Possession
by demonicnargles
Summary: Kyuubi takes advantage of a unique opportunity and possesses Naruto's body. Can the demon cope with a mortal's body? What will happen when Naruto resurfaces? Not a great description, but please read this. Longer chapters starting on 19! Now complete.
1. A ray of hope

AN: This will probably end up being NaruIno, if there is to be any major pairing. Other pairs may be mentioned, but only in passing. I don't think they will play any major part in this fic. I began writing this because the story just came to me. I plan for it to be very long. This story will be deviating from the original plot from the manga, though only a bit at first, getting further from it as the story progresses. Thus, there will be spoilers, until... I don't when. I don't know enough Japanese to write techniques in that language, and I am too lazy to learn. (Shikamaru! My hero!) I may be slow to update, either from lack of inspiration, or because of my terrible typing skill. I'll try to keep notes to a minimum. Hope you like the story. -demonicnargles

For future reference:

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

"NARUTO!"

The boy in question jerked his head up from the desk and quickly wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

"IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO SLEEP WHILE YOU'RE HERE, WHY DO YOU COME AT ALL!"

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I'm just tired today."

"YOU SAY THAT EVERY DAY!"

"Maybe I'm tired every day..."

Iruka decided to ignore that last remark, and continued with the lecture on genjutsu. Some of the students snickered at the blonde boy. Iruka wasn't kidding when he said Naruto did this every day. In fact, Naruto seemed to sleep in class more and more often. Iruka's screeching only kept him awake for about five minutes this time.

"Naruto."

Naruto looked up upon hearing his name. "What," he asked wearily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He glanced around. Iruka and he were alone.

"Is it time for recess?" Naruto asked, still only half-awake.

"School's out."

"...Oh." Standing up and stretching, Naruto began to gather his things.

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"...No..."

"Alright, but how do you expect to graduate in the exam tomorrow? I don't think you've been awake for more than ten minutes at a time. Have you been practicing your ninjutsu at home?"

Naruto didn't seem to hear anything. "Goodbye, Iruka sensei..." He slowly walked out the door, dragging his bag behind him.

_No one really cares, _thought Naruto. _Iruka might, but everyone else hates me. I don't know why I go to school, really. I guess it's a habit by now... I hear people talk about suicide, but that would hurt. Maybe not as much as the pai of being alone, but..._

Naruto arrived at his run-down apartment and opened the door. He never bothered to lock it. Anything he had of value had already been stolen or destroyed by kids, and sometimes even adults, who hated him for reasons he couldn't think of. He had stopped his pranking a year ago. All it did was get him in more trouble, and incite more people to break into his apartment.

_I don't know if I want to go to the exam tomorrow. Iruka-sensei's right. I haven't paid any attention. But I guess it doesn't really matter... It's not like I've ever been able to do any ninjutsu right, and no one will practive taijutsu with me, and I don't understand genjutsu at all..._

Naruto dropped his stuff by the door, closed it, and fell onto the nearby couch, which the previous owner's had left. Probably because it wasn't worth hauling it to the landfill.

Naruto knew why he slept so often. _Nothing hurts when you're asleep. Everything is calm..._

He was asleep before he hit the couch.

Naruto woke up. He hated waking up. He had to come back to reality, where almost everyone he knew, and many he didn't know, hated him with a passion. He glanced at the analog clock hanging lopsided on the wall.

_Eight o-clock. I guess I might as well try the exam, since I'm already awake. And even if I don't pass, which I probably won't, I can at least use enough energy to get tired enough to sleep..._

Naruto arrived at the school around 9:00, having taken his time eating in breakfast and getting there. He looked at the camera as the man took his picture. He waited. When it was his turn, he stepped into the room. He saw three men sitting at the far end of the rectangular room, behind a table, each with clipboards, paper, and pencils. He recognized Iruka in the middle, but knew only that the other two were staff somewhere at the Academy.

"Stand over there," said the one on the right, gesturing toward an "X" marked about ten feet in front of the table. Naruto did as he was told.

"Now, I want you to make at least three clones of yourself using the Replication Technique," the man continued. "You will be graded on their likeness to yourself, their transparency can malformed clones be transparent? I think so, and, of course, on whether you get at least three. You may proceed when you are ready."

Naruto formed the seal and molded his chakra. Two clones appeared. One was non-transparent, but it's face was a bit off. The second was pale white and was barely visible because it was so transparent.

The three men frowned. The man on the right, who apparently did all the talking, said, "I'm sorry. Better luck next year." Naruto slowly walked out of the second door of the room, going outside. He began to walk to his house.

_I remember the guy on the right, now,_ Naruto thought whimsically. _He was the guy who moved here from another village. No wonder he was so polite... Because there's no way any of the teacher's other than Iruka would be that nice, since they grew up here. But why do all the adults who grew up here hate me? That guy moved here before I quit doing pranks, but he doesn't hate me. Maybe something else I did... but what? Oh well, it doesn't matter..._

As he was walking home, a man in an alley just to the side of the road whispered, "Hey kid, come here. I want to talk to you."

Naruto glanced at the man. The guy had white hair, a chuunin outfit and huge shuriken on his back. He seemed about Iruka's age. Naruto didn't recognize him from anywhere. "Why would I want to do that?"

"I know that your teachers are all hard on you, and that no one will practice with you. Without anyone to help you, you haven't been able to get any better. I'm willing to train you, if you want."

Naruto tried to suppress it, but he still felt a little hope. _Maybe this guy isn't like the others. Maybe he saw how they treated me, and sees how I haven't done anything to deserve it. Maybe..._ "Okay. "

The man grinned. "Alright! By the way, my name is Mizuki. I know you're Naruto. Any way since you're a bit behind, we're going to have to do some advanced training. I need you to get a scroll from this place for me. They won't let us have it if we ask, because they all hate you, but if you can get it, I can use it to teach you more quickly," Mizuki quickly explained which scroll he needed and where to get it. "Meet me north of here at the abandoned shack in the forest at, say, nine o-clock tonight. Sound good?"

Naruto nodded.

"Great! See you then!" Mizuki walked off, pleased with the success of his plan so far. Because of the way the villagers treated the boy, this was almost too easy...

Naruto couldn't believe it. _Someone cares enough to offer to train me! And to do so when it could get him in trouble! There's no way I can pass this up,_ Naruto thought as he snuck into the guarded building. If there was one thing he was good at, it was staying hidden. He had learned this from countless times of running from others, either because of some prank he pulled, or because of the unknown reason everyone hated him. _Got it! Now all I have to do is meet Mizuki-sensei at the shack, in, let's see, an hour. I think I'll just head there now and read it for a bit before he shows up._

End of chapter. Please review!


	2. Betrayal

AN: Not much to say. Enjoy! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

Naruto sat in the clearing in front of the shack. He had taught himself the Shadow Replication Technique, which was surprisingly easy, since he couldn't do the supposedly easier Replication Technique, but this next one was hard.

_This village needs to get better security,_ he mused as he continued reading the scroll. _I waltzed right in there and took this scroll without any problem, and I'm not even a genin! Oh well, it worked out for me, so... whatever._ _Hey, where are my goggles? I must have left them at home when I was getting ready. Whatever..._

The Sandaime strolled the halls of the same building Naruto thought needed better security. He walked here every night before he went to bed. It was relaxing. Every night he came for a walk. Every night he counted all 43 scrolls arranged along the walls. _23, 24..._ It was peaceful here. No one guarded this building because that might arouse suspicion about the allegedly "mundane" scrolls it contained. This way, no one would know of the scroll, _scroll 37, he remembered,_ the scroll of forbidden techniques. _31, 32..._ No one would bother stealing a scroll of stuff that could be found almost anywhere. And no one knew where it was, except for him and a few others. _36,37..._

The Sandaime froze. The scroll was gone. He rushed towards the nearest exit to sound the alarm, when he noticed a pair of goggles lying by the doorway. _Naruto, why would you do this? And how did you know which one it was? Or did you..._

"You must find Naruto and the scroll, and bring them to me immediately!"

"YES, HOKAGE-SAMA!" the hastily gathered ninja shouted in unison, before sprinting in every direction.

Naruto turned his head toward the rustling of bushes. Mizuki stood about twenty feet behind him. Right on time.

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Mizuki-sensei."

"Here, let me see that scroll."

Naruto stood up the give it to him, when suddenly, he heard another voice.

"Don't give it to him, Naruto!"

Iruka leaped into the cleaing, landing between Mizuki and Naruto.

"What? Why" Naruto managed. Was Iruka one of the ones who wished to hold him back?

"Mizuki was just using you to get that scroll! It is the scroll of Forbidden Techniques!"

"But I... Mizuki?"

An evil grin spread over Mizuki's face. "Indeed. How could anyone like you? Did you really think that I was going to train you? I hate you, and so does everyone else in the village. Even your precious Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka looked about to deny this, but Mizuki continued, "I bet no one bothered to tell you, since it would be against the law. The law that was made when you were born."

"What law? I haven't heard of any law!"

"Of course not! The law goes like this. No one can tell you about the law. And no one can tell you, that the Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed in you! That's why everyone hates you! The Kyuubi killed over half of the village's population! Everyone lost at least one family member! Iruka lost both of his parents! And everyone can see the proof of the Kyuubi's presence in you, every time they see the whisker marks on your cheeks! Did you really think that any birth mark could be so outrageous? But you bought it! What a loser!"

"You're not getting away with that scroll," Iruka said.

"What? _You're_ going to stop me? Ha! I'll take care of the demon brat, then I'll take care of you!" With that, Mizuki hurled one of his shuriken straight at Naruto, who had moved from behind Iruka to better hear Mizuki.

Naruto knew he couldn't dodge it. He was too shocked by what he just heard to react that quickly to an attack. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain... the pain that would end all of his pain... the... crunching sound? Naruto opened his eyes. In front of him stood Iruka facing him, with a pained look on his face. Iruka turned to face Mizuki, although he seemed barely able to stand. Then Naruto saw why.

The giant shuriken was imbedded in Iruka's back.

"Don't listen to him... Naruto..." Iruka gasped. "I... don't hate you. You didn't do anything... Now go! Get away before... before..."

"Before what?" Mizuki gloated. "Before I finish you off? You just gave up any chance you had of beating me! Now that scroll is as good as mine!" Mizuki hurled his second giant shuriken at them. Naruto could only stare as it hurtled toward Iruka and him. But Iruka spun around and pushed Naruto out of the way.

Only to be decapitated by the shuriken.

Naruto stared at what used to be his sensei. Iruka had been killed. The only person who had ever cared about him. The only one who ever listened to him. Rage boiled up inside of him. _He killed Iruka-sensei!_

"To tell the truth, Naruto, I'm feeling generous today. If you'll give me that scroll, I'll let you live. Then I'll be on my way."

"You'll be on your way, all right... TO HELL!" Naruto screamed. He picked up the shuriken that had killed Iruka. _He killed Iruka-sensei!_ "Mass Shadow Replication!" One hundred clones appeared, surrounding Mizuki. Each one held a shuriken.

"This is your last chance!" Mizuki screamed in terror, hoping against hope that the boy would give up.

Maniacal laughter burst from the Narutos.

Mizuki watched in horror as every clone pulled back their shuriken.

"Time to die, Mizuki-_sensei_."

Mizuki saw only shuriken. And then he saw nothing at all.

Meanwhile, the ninja returned to the Sandaime to report their findings. All except Iruka.

"Where's Iruka?"

"Didn't he go to check north in the forest?"

"Someone go find him!"

Five ninjas sped off to the forest.

The five ninjas were stunned at what they saw. A headless Iruka. A bloody pile of shuriken that hid the remains of a body, if the severed hand was any clue. And there was Naruto, lying on the ground, with a blank look in his eyes, muttering something to himself under his breath. The nins approached the child, uncertain as to whether he had done all this or not. Naruto stood up. One of the nins would later swear that the boy's eyes were lifeless holes that sucked the energy from the air around him. The lead nin gestured for Naruto to follow them. He did, in a stiff, mechanical fashion, that made them wonder if he were a puppet. When Naruto was close enough, they could hear what he was saying.

"He killed Iruka-sensei. He killed Iruka-sensei. He killed Iruka-sensei. He killed Iruka-sensei..."

The Sandaime had prepared himself to give a stern lecture to Naruto, but when he saw him, he couldn't bring himself to say it. After he calmed down, Naruto explained what had happened. Although most of the nins in the room were too used to hating him show any sympathy, they saw the pain that Naruto went through every day. They thought he deserved it. Sarutobi decided that there was no need for punishment, and, though many nins disagreed, no one dared to gainsay the Hokage. Naruto went back to his house and collapsed on the bed.

_No one cares about me, _thought Naruto. _The only person who ever showed any flicker of kindness was Iruka, and now he's gone. I trusted Mizuki, and he used me for his own gain. No one cares._

Naruto drifted into a darkness deeper than sleep.

It was unexpected, but he would accept it however it came. It was like watching someone at the Hokage's desk, running everything, getting up and leaving. No one was in control. Could it be possible? Could he have a moment of freedom from his accursed prison? He took control, and opened the eyes, now his eyes, and saw the ceiling of Naruto's room. He glanced at the bed stand. He was in control. The brat had vanished somehow, at least for the moment. There was no way he would pass up this opportunity.

**_At last_**, thought Kyuubi...

End of chapter. Please review!


	3. Kyuubi: Ninja of Konoha

AN: Not much to say. Enjoy! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

Kyuubi tested Naruto's legs. His legs. They moved. He tried the... his arms. They also moved at his will. He stood up. And promptly fell over. **_Those humans make it look so easy..._**

He crawled to his hands and knees. He slowly got to his feet. He stood. **_This takes more concentration than it should. I guess I'll have to get used to it. Hmmm... Now for walking._**

Kyuubi walked to the end of the small room and back. After he got the hang of it, he put clothing on the floor to make it more realistic. After he mastered this, he practiced jumping, which was far harder than he thought at first. He was practicing running through the halls covered with clothing and balls and stuff, when the sun rose.

_**Hm? That took a long time! What should I do now? I could finish destroying Konoha... But I should see if I can use my powers in this body first. I'll go to one of the furthest training areas and make sure of what I can do in this body.**_

With that in mind, Kyuubi laughed and stepped towards the door. **"Mwahahahaha-"** Kyuubi stopped dead in his tracks. **_My voice! I don't sound like Naruto at all! I sound like the voice of Doom! Like... me! I could just dash for the training area, but if someone saw me, and if I couldn't access my power... Drat!_**

To practice his voice, Kyuubi decided to see if he was moving his mouth incorrectly. He went into the restroom and turned on the light, only to notice another problem. His eyes. His blood-red, slitted eyes. **_Well, that doesn't look suspicious... What can I do about my eyes?... Genjutsu..._** Even if Naruto had not, Kyuubi had paid attention to the classes, because there was NOTHING ELSE TO DO. Not that he MINDED or anything...

**_So, I concentrate on what I want to disguise, mold the chakra,_** he molded his chakra; his vision glowed blue, and voila! His eyes were now... purple. **_Hmmm... I'm going to have to work on that... Wait! I used Naruto's chakra! How on Earth did I do that! Well, I guess since I'm using his body... I need to practice hand seals, and human techniques, and Naruto's voice, and fix my eyes. And what is this feeling in my stomach? Damn humans and their need for food! And their need for water! And restrooms! The mighty Kyuubi, sitting on the crapper... I hate humans!_**

Several hours later, Kyuubi had gotten his mastery of seals beyond what Naruto had before. **_Did he ever even try?_** He had practiced a few techniques to make sure he could use Naruto's chakra well. He had softened his voice enough to sound like he had gone through puberty overnight and gotten a cold. **_The voice still needs a bit of work, but it's acceptable... for now._** And his eyes looked only a shade darker than Naruto's. **_But if someone with any skill looked at them, they would tell there was a genjutsu, though they wouldn't be able to see my eyes. But I need to test my power! I can't go through this with only a human's pathetic power!_**

Suddenly he heard a knocking on the front door. His first instinct was to shoot a giant fireball at it, but then he remembered that he didn't want to show his power without testing its effects on this frail human body. Kyuubi walked to his front door and opened it.

"Hello, Naruto," said the Sandaime. " I realize that you are probably still greiving for Iruka," **_Who? Oh, the brat's sensei._** "But I wanted to let you know that, since you mastered the Shadow Replication, I think that you are skilled enough to be a genin. I would like to present you with your forehead protector."

"**U**h, tha**nks.**"

"You will need to come to a meeting in two days, where the graduates will be divided into their teams. It will be in classroom 100c. Good luck!" The Sandaime turned and walked away. **_Dang, I need to get this voice problem fixed! But first, to test my power. If I can use all of my power, I won't need to worry about imitating Naruto._** With that thought, Kyuubi strode towards the training grounds.

"It looks like he's going to train. It's very unlike him, but it is to our advantage. We will get rid of the demon brat once and for all!" The group of fifteen villagers followed silently after what they assumed to be Naruto.

Kyuubi arrived at the training grounds. **_Now what should I use as a target? I- why are so many villagers coming this way?... Ah, they are following me to torment Naruto. They will make good target practice._** Kyuubi summoned up his own chakra. To his surprise, it came out of the seal with almost no resistance, although summoning it broke the genjutsu on his eyes. He would have to fix it later. His chakra poured though the seal. **_The Yondaime wasn't as thorough as he thought. Ha!_**

"We have you now, demon boy! You can't- Oh my go-"

The man was unable to comtinue after his throat was ripped out.

"**Time to die, little humans! Mwahahahaha!"**

It felt good to kill again. It had been years since his last kill, and so even these pathetic villagers were good sport. **_But my chakra was deteriorating Naruto's... my body. My regenerative boost made up for it, but at this rate, I won't be able to summon a quarter of my full power without dying in minutes! There has to be some way to regenerate faster, or protect this body, or to control my chakra outside of the body to keep it from harming the body in the first place. I will have to use it only in small amounts until I can find a way around it. And I think I'm going to have to replace this genjutsu every time I use my chakra for other than healing this body. That's going to be a pain._**

Having found out what he needed to, Kyuubi headed back to Naruto's house. **_I need to practice this voice, anyway._**

Kyuubi managed to adjust his voice, although he noticed that any attempt to disguise his identity was useless if he tried to use any of his demonic chakra outside of Naruto's body. He found that he did not need sleep, as his regenerative effects on his body were more than enough to compensate for sleep depravation's effects. Except for the bags under the eyes, but they weren't important.

Kyuubi walked into classroom 100c. No one seemed to notice him. They were busy talking among themselves. Not a single person glanced at him, though he heard a few wonder out loud at how Naruto could have passed the exam. Kyuubi was glad that Naruto had never been popular, because now no one should be able to tell the difference. He was a little curious as to where the kit had gone. He could feel a presence in the back of his mind, but it didn't respond to any of his attempts to rouse it. Perhaps that was just as well.

In a few minutes, the chuunin who had presided over the exam entered the room. He set his coffee on the desk, but held on to the clipboard which Kyuubi assumed to be the list of teams.

"Everyone, quiet! I will be dividing you into teams, and-" The chuunin paused as two more boys sauntered into the room. One was fat and held a bag of potato chips. The other had his hair in a short ponytail. They took seats in the back of the room, and the ponytialed boy seemed to instantly fall asleep.

"Nice of you to join us, Shikamaru, Chouji. As I was saying, after I divide you into teams, you will be leaving with your team leaders, who should be arriving shortly. Team 1..."

Kyuubi tuned out the instructor. He would wait until he heard Naruto's name. There was no point in knowing what teams these pathetic humans were on. **_Until I find a way to use most or all of my power, I'm going to have to rely on Naruto's abilities. I can only fight with up to a quarter of my power, and that only for a few minutes. If I can get this body to be fast enough, though, a quarter could be sufficient. But still-_**

"Team 7. Uzamaki Naruto. Haruno Sakura. Uchiha Sasuke." The pink-haired girl on one side of a black-haied boy jumped up with a squeal of delight, while the blonde one on the other side wailed with despair. **_How strange._** "Your jounin leader will be Hatake Kakashi. That concludes the list. Is there anyone who was not called? Good. You may leave with your instructors whenever they arrive."

Everyone got up and began to leave. Everyone except team 7.

The pink-haired genin who Kyuubi understood to be Haruno Sakura began to complain. "Where is Kakashi-sensei? He better not be late! But I guess I get to be alone with... uh..." She blushed furiously, darting a glance at the scowling, raven-haired boy.

Kyuubi was about to ask if he didn't count as a person, but thought better of it. **_The less I speak, the fewer chances I take of being recognized. I guess if we have to wait here, I can let this body sleep, since I can't really train here."_**

Sasuke saw Naruto slump onto the table. _What a dobe. I don't know how he managed to stay awake for the team divisions, but I knew it couldn't last long._ He smirked. _Fine with me. I don't need his help. We'll do just fine as long as he stays out of the way. But... how did he pass? I heard that he failed the exam. Whatever. I don't care._

"Hey, um, Sasuke, maybe after we meet the instructor, we could eat lunch together..."

"No."

Sakura looked crestfallen. "But we're going to be on the same team, so we need to get to know each other, and so I thought that-"

"Then have lunch with Naruto."

"Don't be ridiculous! I might as well eat with a rock!"

"Then eat with a rock."

"There's no need to be so rude!" Sakura whirled around so Sasuke wouldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes.

Two hours later...

The door to their left opened, and a white-haired jounin calmly strode into the room. He had both of his hands in his pockets, and his left eye was covered by a sagging forehead protector. The rest of his face from the bridge of his nose down was obscured by a mask.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. I got lost on the way here..."

"WHAT A PATHETIC EXCUSE! YOU LIVE HERE! HAVE YOU NO SHAME!"

Sakura's outburst woke Kyuubi and stirred Sasuke from his brooding.

"I take it that you are Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke stated.

"Yes I am. Meet me on the roof. We'll talk more when you all get there." Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke a leaves.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sakura ran outside. Kyuubi followed slowly, and Sasuke followed even more slowly. _This is a bad sign,_ thought Sasuke.

End of chapter. Please review!


	4. Kyuubi: Thief

AN: I cannot for the life of me get lines to show up, and they become more necessary in the next chapter. So I made sarcastic lines. If anyone could tell me how to get the dang lines to appear, I would be grateful. On another note, I think this is obvious, but just in case someone didn't catch on, I don't own Naruto! I will let you know the moment I do, but until then, I don't. Enjoy the story! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline

Kakashi watched as the pink-haired girl jumped up to the roof quickly, followed by the two, obviously lazier, boys. _If they plan to be that lazy during the bell exercise, they are in for a surprise._ Sakura sat down right in front of him, smiling. Sasuke walked over and sat on her right, scowling at some inner thought. Naruto sat behind and to the left of Sakura, and stared at the roof. _Naruto doesn't seem very confident in himself. He won't even look me in the eye. We'll have to work on that. Sasuke is no doubt contemplating revenge. Well, as long as he doesn't do anything rash about it, he should be okay._

Kakashi kept these thoughts to himself. "All right, everyone. I am your jounin instructor. Let's take turns telling each other our names, things you like, hobbies, dreams, and stuff like that."

"Why don't you go first, sensei, and show us what you mean?" asked Sakura, wanting to know more about their strangely attired sensei. Sasuke was glad she asked, as he also wanted to know about Kakashi, but didn't want to ask. Of course, he expressed no gratitude to Sakura. Gratitude was for weaklings. He couldn't be weak. He was an avenger. Kyuubi just sat there, and continued staring at the roof.

**_I bet this human would notice the genjutsu on my eyes if I looked up. Maybe he'll assume Naruto is just depressed or something, and I won't have to look at him, _**Kyuubi thought.

"Very well. My name, as you probably know, is Hatake Kakashi. My hobbies are... I like certain things... I dream about different stuff... yeah. You go next, Sakura."

"All we really learned was his name," Sakura whispered to her teammates. They both ignored her. A little miffed, Sakura said out loud, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I like..." She glanced at Sasuke and blushed. "My hobbies are talking with friends and picking flowers. My dream is to be a great ninja and marry a nice guy, and..." Again, she glanced at Sasuke and blushed.

"You go next, Sasuke," Kakashi said, sounding bored.

"My name is Uchiha sasuke. I like being strong and respected. My hobby is training. My dream... is to kill a certain man..."

_Just as I suspected,_ thought Kakashi. "Naruto, you're up."

Kyuubi continued plumbing the depths of the roofing tile in front of him. He couldn't risk looking up. "My name... is... Uzamaki Naruto." **_I can't believe I almost told them my actual name! That would be an embarrassing way to be found out..._** "I like... ramen?" It sounded like a question. **_I should have paid more attention to the kit before now!_** "My hobby is... sleeping, I guess... My dream... I dunno..."

_And to think this is the kid who used to shout about becoming Hokage... I didn't know the villagers were so mean. Or maybe Iruka's death was hard on him. But I can't go easy on him just because of that._ "Good. We'll meet tomorrow at Training Area 7 at 6:00 AM. Don't eat breakfast."

"Why?" asked Sakura.

"Because you'd throw up."

Kakashi vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"So, would you like to eat lunch with me, Sasuke?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm busy."

"Oh..."

Sasuke walked to the edge of the roof and dropped to the ground before continuing towards his house. Sakura followed him.

"Sasuke? Is it okay if I walk with you for a while?"

"Whatever."

Sakura smiled, while Inner Sakura babbled about 'true love' and such things.

Kyuubi waited until they were out of sight. Once he was sure they were gone, he ran to what he now referred to as 'his' training area. He needed to build speed to make up for his lack of power.

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And... he touched the tree at the far east end of the training area, and began sprinting back to the west end. The sun was just beginning to peek from behind the horizon, casting his elongated shadow ahead of him. As he ran, he jumped onto or over the rocks and logs he came across. His muscles should have been burning after sprinting for an hour without stopping except to change directions, but his quick rate of regeneration allowed him to continue.

**_There's got to be a better way to get faster,_** Kyuubi thought. **_I'll have to stop soon. This body is running out of energy. It's a good thing I feed it more than just ramen. Those rabbits were good. But this takes too long. I won't be able to hide my presence forever. But the only way I see of safely using my power is through ninja means, which I need to learn from ninja, which means I have to stay here and do missions and crap. It's fortunate that I do not require sleep. One more length and I'll go find some meat. Maybe a deer, if I can find one..._**

Then Kyuubi heard a voice. "... and if I cannot complete all 500 laps around Konoha, I shall do 500 pushups!"

**_What on Earth?_** Kyuubi went to see who was so vibrantly enthusiastic. He stopped at the edge of the forest. He saw an older man and a boy he recognized as one of the graduates from last year, both dressed in what appeared to be green leotards. Kyuubi rolled his eyes. **_500 laps? They are either crazy, or dead serious about training..._**

"Can you tell the difference the weights have made in your training, Lee? You burn brightly with the flames of youth! Of course you have! And once we increase them for the third time, I will teach you an awesome technique!"

"Thank you, Gai-sensei! What is this technique you speak of! I must know!"

"I will tell you when..." The two ran out of Kyuubi's hearing. **_Weights! That's it! If I train with weights, I can improve in less time. But what could I use as weights?_** Kyuubi thought about different things he could do for weights while he hunted for food. **_I'll eat anything other than ramen..._**

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Kyuubi returned to Naruto's house just before sunset. He knew that even if he didn't sleep, this body needed at least short periods of inactivity. He watched the sun go down, slowly sinking below the horizon.

In the end, the only way Kyuubi had thought he could get something small enough and heavy enough to use would be to get weights designed for training purposes. But Naruto was poor, and there was no way he could afford to buy them. **_And I need better clothes than this flourescent orange outfit. And I don't want to ask for things; I can't take a chance of being caught. Who'd have thought, Kyuubi no Kitsune, hiding from mere mortals. But then, since my life is tied to this body by that accursed seal, that makes me mortal as well. I guess I'll have to steal. But I can't exactly steal clothing and wear it in broad daylight. I'm going to have to steal money and buy clothing. And the weights, I can't have questions asked about them if anyone notices them. This could be difficult in a village of ninja. And I don't know of any nearby towns. Kuso!_**

Kyuubi dressed in the only dark clothing Naruto had ever owned: navy sweat pants and a black t-shirt. He used a ninjutsu made specifically for hiding in the dark. It was the third and last technique Naruto had learned from the forbidden scroll. Though it was meant for hiding, it would serve to camouflage him for his night-time raid. He formed the seals and molded his chakra. **_Light Absorption Technique,_** Kyuubi remembered. His skin, hair, nails, and every part of his body turned black. Despite the seemingly illusory effect, it was indeed classified as ninjutsu. Kyuubi knew why. **_It requires hand seals, unlike genjutsu. And it causes the body to absorb light, thus turning this body black. Because it isn't genjutsu, it isn't easily detected. No one would you be looking for ninjutsu, because those aren't normally used for stealth. _**It was dark enough now. Kyuubi opened the only functioning window in Naruto's house, and was about to jump out, when he realized something. He didn't know where he should steal from. He needed to steal money. A bank would have money, but would be heavily guarded. **_I guess I'll just rob several stores._** Kyuubi mentally reviewed the neaby stores. Which ones would he have time to hit?

An grin spread across Kyuubi's face. He formed a seal. **_Shadow Replication Technique._** Five clones came into being. Kyuubi used the Light Absorption Technique on each of them, and outlined his plan. The clones nodded, then jumped out the window. Kyuubi followed suit.

Although he could hear the clones leaping towards their targets, he was unable to see them. They would be invisible, or nearly so, as long as they stayed away from lights. Kyuubi ran to his own destination, which would be slightly harder to rob than where any of the clones were bound. They were going to rob a grocery store, two convenience stores, and two clothing stores. He would be robbing a jewelers.

He landed on the ground beside a toy store. On the other side of the store was the jewelers. He couldn't risk making too much noise by jumping around over there. He snuck around back, and saw two chuunin standing guard at the back door. **_Of course they would have ninja guarding it! This is a ninja village! I thought my only problem would be patrolling ninja, but what can I do now? Is there anyone guarding the front door?_** Kyuubi slunk back around the toy store, and peeked around the front corner. A single chuunin stood under a street light. **_That won't work. I can't get caught in any light. Guess I'll have to work around the two in the back._** Kyuubi crept back around the toy store. He heard the chuunin talking in low voices. He couldn't fight them. Without any of his powers. He be outmatched in seconds. With the fraction of his powers he had available, he would glow and be recognized. Besides, a fight of any length would almost certainly be loud, and the chuunin could call for backup. If he could get them away for just a minute or two, he might be able to pick the lock on the back door or something. But how could he get them to move? They weren't chuunin for nothing. Kyuubi thought for a moment. Then, he had an idea...

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End of chapter. Please review!


	5. Kyuubi: Murderer

AN: I still don't own Naruto. I am going on a trip, and will be getting back late Monday, I think, so I won't be able to post until Tuesday the 25th. To make up for this, I have made sure to finish and post this chapter before I leave. Besides, it would be cruel to leave you with that sort of cliffhanger...

On another note, it was brought to my attention that I was unclear on what happened to Naruto. He unconsciously retreated into his mind, and is currently in the halls/sewers where Kyuubi's cage is. Kyuubi is controlling the body by leaking chakra through the bars of the cage out to whatever place in that area allows people there to control the body. That's my theory on that. That's also how I believe Ino controls others' bodies, by going to that place and wresting control from the person. Most people (again, in my theory) are unaware of anything going on in their mind, because they have never been not in control, or forced to go there. Naruto is currently unaware of anything, but will 'regain consciousness' and become aware of where he is at a later point. And to those of you who have reviewed, my deepest gratitude. You are my reason for writing. Enjoy this chapter! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi waited patiently for the clones to get into position. Once the chuunin left their posts, he would have limited time to get the cash before the clones were dispatched. He peeked into his front pocket. **_Good. I have that navy cloth bag with me. There's no knowing how much money there could be in a jewelry store. And any moment now..._**

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"I can't believe I pulled guard duty here twice this week, Toru. I have stuff I have to do during the day, you know..." The chuunin sighed as he continued to lean against the wall.

"Oh well. At least we can talk to each other, Ichigo. The guy out front is probably bored out of his mind," the second chuunin replied. "It's easy money, though; it's not like anything ever-"

He was interrupted by a clang that could only be kunai colliding in mid-air. He and his partner rushed out into the street where the noise had come from. They saw four Konoha chuunins fighting furiously against six enemies, who didn't seem to be wearing forehead protectors. None of the nin seemed able to hit each other. The guard from the front of the store came around the corner. He looked at the other two. All three nodded simultaneously, and joined the fray.

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Kyuubi tried to open the back door. Locked. How on earth would he be able to open the door quietly? His clones weren't making much noise because they couldn't hit each other. Then he saw it. Fire regulations required that all exit doors open outwards. Therefore, the hinges were in the outside. He put the tip of his kunai under the bolt of the hinge, trying to use it as a lever to force the bolt up. Just before Kyuubi gave up, the bolt jerked up about an inch. Kyuubi pulled the bolt out, and repeated the process on the other two hinges. He caught the door as it began to fall backwards, and set it gently onto the ground. The last thing he needed was for the heavy metal door to give him away after he had gone to all of this trouble. He snuck into the shop.

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Toru threw a kunai at an enemy-nin, who easily dodged it. It seemed that the only purpose kunai now possessed was to distract good ninja or injure the incompetent. He followed it up with two more. He saw the guard from the front throw a kunai at the same ninja. With any luck, it wouldn't be noticed.

But luck wasn't with them. A second enemy-nin deflected the third kunai with his own. _This might take longer than I had hoped,_ thought the Toru, as he dodged a spray of kunai.

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After searching for far longer than he thought wise, Kyuubi finally found the safe. It had been disguised as a trash can behind the counter. Seeing that it was the cheap kind with the plastic combination wheel, he punched through said wheel and grabbed as much cash as he could lay hands on. He stuffed what he could into his pockets, and put the rest into the bag he had brought. If worst came to worst, he could abandon the bag, and still get away with a good sum of money. Especially since he saw the large denominations of the bills. This was, of course, a jewelry store. Once he finished, he carefully placed the safe back where it had been. If he was careful, and if the clones held out long enough, he could also replace the door, and his theft wouldn't be discovered until much later. Kyuubi hurried to the back door. He should have checked the place out before, but it hadn't occured to him. He was a demon, who should have been able to just blast the village to hell, instead of sneaking around at night to get supplies. He picked up the door and placed it back into the doorframe. Now was the real problem. How to quietly get the bolts back into place.

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Ichigo saw that the enemy-nin had no visible forehead protectors. _They were probably on an undercover mission when they were spotted by these other chuunin. Oddly enough, I don't recognize any of the chuunin, but then, there are a lot of us._

Although his enemies seemed to work well as a team, they were reduced mostly to dodging kunai and dancing away from the Konoha ninja. They hardly got a single attack off after the guards had intervened. Ichigo saw that the nin seemed unnaturally afraid of being hit. He saw numerous openings made by the other Konoha chuunin that these nin could have exploited by taking a punch or two, but the anonymous ninja refused to take any action which put themselves in harm's way. _What cowards. But perhaps it is a trick to wear us out. Perhaps they have great endurance. But as quiet as the fight is, surely someone will notice and show up._

His musing was proven true when a Konoha jounin showed up. Ichigo recognized him, but couldn't think of a name. The jounin stayed out of the sight of the enemy-nin, until he suddenly leaped out of the shadow of a nearby building, flinging kunai at three ninja.

Two of the nin dodged the kunai, but the third was just a hair slow, and was grazed across the arm. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but Ichigo was startled when he saw the nin vanish in a puff of smoke. He looked at the ground where the nin had been. Sure enough, there were footprints. A bunshin couldn't make footprints. Unless it was an advanced form. With a start, he realized that any bunshin of that caliber would be at least jounin level.

With the clone's demise, the other five nin sprang into attack. But curiously, they jumped past the unknown Konoha chuunin to attack the guards and the jounin. Two went for the jounin, while each chuunin was faced with one. They nin emptied their kunai pouches at them in mid-jump and prepared to fight hand to hand. The jounin threw two well-aimed kunai at his assailants and dodged the kunai thrown at him. Because they were in the air, they had no chance of dodging the kunai aimed for the center of their bodies. The kunai sunk deep into their chests. Then the nin promptly disappeared in puffs of smoke.

The jounin smirked. _Just as I thought._ Confident that the remaining seven chuunin would handle the last three attackers, the jounin listened for the real perpetrator.. The clones were obviously a diversion for something else in the vicinity. Then he felt something strange._ A genjutsu! It's in the jewelry store! No, just behind it!_ The jounin began to run in that direction, only to stop after a few steps. "What is the meaning of this!" he shouted.

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Kyuubi was at a loss for how to replace the bolts. He couldn't hammer them into place. Suddenly he heard the characteristic "poof" of a clone being dispelled. He needed to hurry. Thinking quickly, he decided to just shove the bolts as far in as he could, and hope no one noticed. He heard another two "poof"'s in quick succession. **_Kuso! Another ninja must have shown up!_** He crammed the second bolt into the hinge. He heard a voice cry, "What is the meaning of this!" He realized that his fake Konoha nin must have interfered with what sounded to be an older ninja. The voice sounded older than the chuunin he had heard. It probably belonged to a jounin. But he had specifically ordered the clones not to interfere unless... **_Kuso! I've been discovered! That guy must be a jounin for sure! Why does this have to happen to me?_** Kyuubi decided not to think about the obvious reason having to do with his robbing a jewelry store.

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The jounin was confused and angry. These chuunin had gotten in his way, and were staring at him while the other chuunin fought was were surely clones. _And why did the clones pass these chuunin to... They're clones too!_ The jounin saw the "Konoha chuunin" pull out their kunai. _Am I going to have to fight all four of them?_

Suddenly three kunai flew from the right, hitting three clones. The real chuunin had finished with the clones, since one hit dispelled them. That left one very lonely clone, who threw his remaining kunai and crouched in preparation for the inevitable attack. The jounin dodged the poorly aimed kunai and attacked. He swung his leg for a roundhouse kick. Even if the clone blocked it, the it would dispelled. To the jounin's surprise and dismay, the clone's creator was apparently a flexible person, since the clone bent back wards nearly to the ground, picked up a kunai behind him, and stabbed it deep into back of the jounin's thigh. The jounin grunted in pain, but followed through with a quick punch which dispelled the last clone.

The jounin walked quickly to the chuunin, who seemed winded and sporting various shallow cuts, but relatively unharmed, and knocked each of them roughly in the chest. _Good, none of them are clones._ "You, chuunin, stay here and be on the lookout for any more threats." With that, he sprinted as fast as his injury permitted towards the back of the store.

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Kyuubi rammed the last bolt halfway into the hinge. **_That will have to be good enough. I need to leave quickly!_** He heard three "poof"'s. **_Make that very quickly._** Kyuubi took off down the back alley. He needed to move quickly and stealthily, so that meant taking the alley that ran behind all of the stores. But if someone from the fight looked back here, they would see him. He heard a final "poof", and then he heard the sound of someone with a slight limp sprinting after him. As he rounded the corner, he glanced back, and since his pursuer was dressed differently than the chuunin he had seen, he realized that it must be the late ninja, whom he assumed was a jounin. **_Kuso! Now I'll have to lose him in the village or the forest. But how could he have detected me?_** Kyuubi thought for a moment as he ran towards the nearest edge of the forest. **_The genjutsu! Of course! I was smart enough to use ninjutsu to hide, but forgot to remove the genjutsu I already had!_** Kyuubi quickly disabled the genjutsu and jumped onto a rooftop, and then into the forest.

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The jounin ran as fast as he could while trying not to worsen the injury on his leg. He could run, but it was painful with a kunai sticking in his hamstrings. Although he knew that running with it in would make the injury a bit worse, running after pulling it out would make him bleed to death. So he could run at about 75 of his normal speed. It wasn't fast enough to catch up to the ninja, but it was enough to keep him from getting away.

Soon he noticed that it was incredibly hard to see the ninja, and the genjutsu that had alerted him to the nin's presence had apparently been removed. The nin had black hair, dark clothing, and appeared to have black paint or dye covering every inch of exposed skin. AN: It has to be paint or dye or something, because there is not a single black person anywhere in Naruto. How weird. Although his jounin training allowed him to see the nin anyway, he was annoyed at how difficult it was.

He saw the nin run into the forest. Pulling out a stick, he set off a flare to alert others to his position and need of reinforcements. Then he followed the mysterious ninja into the forest.

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Kyuubi was surprised when he noticed a flash of light behind him. He glanced back. **_A flare! Can't anything go right today!_** He was going to have to ditch the jounin before reinforcements arrived. As much as he had improved his speed, he knew that the jounin's injury was the only thing that kept him from catching up. **_If I can make several clones, then I might be able to escape. Yeah. Then- No! He caught me because of the genjutsu! I have to use it while I'm in the village! Kuso! I'm going to have to kill a jounin to keep this a secret!_**

Ducking behind a tree, Kyuubi made four clones and used the Light Absorption Technique on them so that they matched his appearance. He jumped into the higher branches, and sent three of the clones to attack while keeping the fourth behind to act as a decoy. He couldn't do this for much longer, since he was almost out of Naruto's chakra. And he couldn't risk using his own chakra without alerting every skilled ninja to the presence of his demonic chakra. Then he wouldn't be able to use it in front of anyone ver again. Or worse, they might remember than Naruto had a demon sealed inside of him. They hated him enough as it was. He crouched on the branch as his clones attacked.

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_I'm never going to catch up at this rate, _thought the jounin. He kept pace with the nin, but every leap from one tree to the next made the kunai slice a little deeper into his leg. Already, he was forced to favor his right leg, which was bleeding around the kunai. He probably should have set off the flare and tried to do first aid on his leg, but he couldn't let such a potentially dangerous enemy leave unchallenged.

He saw the nin duck behind a tree. Was the nin foolish enough to hope that he, a jounin, wouldn't notice that? Three shapes that he assumed were clones leapt out and drew their kunai. _Apparently not._ The jounin saw a bit of movement behind the tree. The nin wasn't willing to risk himself. Or maybe he was waiting to launch sneak attack.

He threw three kunai at each of the clones. They dodged easily, and kept coming. The clones jumped at him, threw two kunai each, then drew a third. They held these in a way the jounin knew meant close combat. He dodged five of the kunai, but his injury prevented himfrom esacping the sixth, which stuck out of the bicep of his right arm. _Great, now I can't use my good arm, and I'm going to be in close quarters._ Drawing two kunai, he blocked two wild swings from two clones, and moved his head enough to avoid an attempt at stabbing his face. Spinning around, he faked a melee attack, then threw his kunai at two clones. One dodged, but the other "poof"'ed into nothingness. _I wasn't given the rank of jounin for nothing._ He saw the real nin step out from behind the tree and begin throwing kunai. These were easily dodged, but it was becoming more and more difficult as the two remaining clones pressed their attack and as his leg and arm continued to bleed. He threw a single kunai at the real nin, and jumped backwards out of an the reach of the two clones' ferocious attack. The kunai probably wouldn't even hit the nin, but it would stop him from throwing kunai for a few seconds. He perched on a high branch and began the seals for the Grand Fireball Technique. _Not only will it dispell the clones if they are too slow, it will alert any help to my location._ He came to the last seal and brought his hand to his mouth. He took a deep breath, feeling the chakra gather in his lungs. Then he died.

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Kyuubi pulled the kunai out of the back of the jounin's head. The body fell to the ground forty feet below. The jounin had been so intent on avoiding the clones and the thrown kunai that he had failed to think that the "real" nin might have also been a clone. **_Crap, I need to hide the body. But where?_** Kyuubi thought for a moment. He couldn't bury it. That would take too long and could be discovered. **_Maybe I could disguise it to look like something else... Mizuki's body! They never got rid of it, something about 'not defiling our honor by burying a triator'. I can cut up the body and hide it in with Mizuki's remains._** The two clones who had been fighting picked up the body and ran with Naruto towards Mizuki's final resting place. The third clone trailed a ways behind, making sure that they were not followed.

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"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but that is all we were able to determine."

The Sandaime sighed. Early this morning, he had been besieged with reports of robberies from all kinds of small stores. And then there was the matter of the jewelry store robbery, ending with three slightly wounded chuunin, and a missing jounin. The ANBU had been able to find where the flare had been set off, and had rushed into the forest, following the trail of blood to a place where the trees had shown evidence of a battle. There was no clue as to who won, or what happened, but the jounin had not returned, and with the amount of blood they found on the trail, he probably would have died even if he had been victorious. But there was no body. They had followed a smaller trail of blood which led to Mizuki's corpse, and found several wild dogs eating there. They had assumed that the mysterious jewel robber had won, and the remains the dogs were eating were the jounin's. They theorized that the body had been brought to Mizuki's corpse by the wild dogs, since that was now the apparent lair of this pack.

"Be on the lookout for any other attempts. I want double guards for the next two weeks at their assigned places, and five more jounins to patrol the streets. If there is any sign of trouble, use a flare immediately. We don't want to lose another ninja because he or she thinks they can handle it alone. Does everyone understand?"

The ninja in the room nodded.

"Good. And if anyone finds any evidence related to any of last night's thefts, bring it to my attention immediately. It could have been a coordinated strike, and there was only a disturbance at the jewelers because of the guards. You are dismissed."

The ninja filed out of the room.

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End of chapter. Please Review!


	6. The bell test

AN: Alas, Naruto is not for sale, so I cannot buy it... I have decided that sarcastic lines work just fine, so I'll be using them from now on. Just because I can. And as I have just returned from Chicago, I posted this as soon as I could for you all. Enjoy! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi knew that Naruto was hated by the villagers, but he figured that they would at least take his money when he tried to buy something.**_ I guess Naruto was fortunate that someone else bought his food. If Naruto had been left to buy food, he'd have starved._** Kyuubi had planned to buy something before meeting his team this morning, but he had been thrown out of every clothing store he had tried to go in. And he hadn't dared to try and enter the store with the weights after seeing the glare the owner gave him. Kyuubi needed to buy the stuff himself to avoid raising suspicion, but no one would sell to him. **_Perhaps a henge... but no. Then they would think I stole it from whoever I henged into. Kuso!_**

Kyuubi mused about his 'activities' this night as he walked to the training field, to which he was already and hour and a half late, since the villagers had been slow to give up on the chase. Some of them had obviously trained as ninja at some point. Things had gone downhill almost from the moment he had taken this body. He was once the fearsome Kyuubi no kitsune, a demon so strong that the strongest ninja in existence had given his life merely to imprison him. Now he found out that he could hardly use enough of his power to beat ordinary ninja, and even then he could only use that much for a minute or two. After getting used to that, he had become a ninja to keep up his disguise as Naruto, for fear of being discovered. Since when was Kyuubi afraid? And once he had done that, he had been forced to steal to have any hope of becoming stronger. Now he was not only a pathetic human, and not only a ninja of a village he had tried to destroy, but now he was a thief. And his short career in thievery had led to his current status on the bottom of the social ladder: Murderer. No one knew, but that had been due only to luck. He had over heard a conversation about the missing jounin. Not only had the ANBU found the trail to Mizuki's corpse, but they had recognized that that was where the body was. Only the presence of the wild dogs had kept the ANBU from investigating further. That was way too close.

Kyuubi had eaten breakfast, despite Kakashi's warning. He had planned on shopping for a while, and he figured that he would be okay after taking time to shop.

He walked into the clearing of the training field. He saw Sasuke and Sakura, but no sign of Kakashi. He stopped and sniffed the air. **_At least I didn't lose my senses when I got this body,_** Kyuubi thought. His enhanced sense of smell found no trace of Kakashi, nor did his sensitive ears detect anyone other than himself and the two genin. He walked over towards the two.

"WHERE WERE YOU, YOU BAKA! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN HERE AND HOUR AND A HALF AGO!" Sakura screamed.

Kyuubi wasn't fazed at all. "Is Kakashi here yet?" **_I finally got this voice down. It takes so much concentration to keep up, though. I shouldn't talk very much._**

"Well, no, but..."

Kyuubi sat by one of the posts in the clearing. If Kakashi wasn't here by an hour and a half after they were supposed to meet, then he was either dead, delayed by important work, or chronically late. If he didn't have a good excuse, Kyuubi would plan on showing up at least and hour and a half late to every meeting Kakashi was coming to. For now, he just leaned back against the post and closed his eyes. He could feel Sakura looking at him. He checked the chakra of his genjutsu. It was as good as he could get it. His eyes were only a shade darker than Naruto's. Surely she hadn't noticed that. Kyuubi scowled. Maybe she was just weird. He let himself drift off to sleep, since there was nothing to do.

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Sakura stared at Naruto. He had changed so much from when she had first met him. She remembered when he was a prankster, always smiling, always laughing, always shouting about how he was going to be Hokage. No matter how many people made fun of him, he always did whatever he felt like. Like wearing bright orange clothes. Sakura had never understood why Naruto liked orange so much. She knew very little about Naruto, but she knew enough to be aware that his food and clothing had always been bought by the Hokage, because he had no parents. She wondered how he expected to be a good ninja when his clothing was such a garish color. Without even thinking about it, she voiced her question out loud.

"Why do you always wear orange clothes, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't answer. Looking a little closer, Sakura realized that he was asleep. She could remember when he would have jumped at the opportunity to talk to 'Sakura-chan'. She still remembered the times he had shouted at her about how orange was a great color, and how ramen was the best food ever, and anything else he could think of. But slowly, his outbursts had become less and less frequent. She had thought that he was getting a little common sense. But he had also begun to sleep in class. And he talked to people less and less, until it was rare to hear his voice. In fact, the only times she could recall him talking within the last year, was when he had either gotten in trouble, or been asked a question. And even then, his voice was quiet, and his replies were short.

Sakura shook off the weight that seemed to have settled on her shoulders. At least now Naruto didn't interrupt her when she talked with Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun... Now that she thought of it, Naruto was a lot like Sasuke-kun now. Except Sasuke didn't sleep as much. _Maybe Naruto has gotten himself a good role model,_ Sakura thought. _And such a handsome one, too!_

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Kakashi walked into the clearing, a full two hours late. The team was exactly as he had thought it would be. Sasuke was brooding, Sakura was staring at Sasuke, and Naruto was sleeping. _Could I have possibly gotten a worse team? I have a loner, a fan girl, and a bum. Just great..._

Sakura jumped to her feet when she heard Kakashi arrive. "YOU'RE TWO HOURS LATE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Oh, I was on my way here, when I noticed an elderly lady trying to cross the street-"

"LIAR!"

Kyuubi was awakened by Sakura's screaming. **_Is she always this loud?_** he wondered. He had only been around her twice since being assgned to her team, and both times she had woken him with shouting of a volume that could wake the dead. Seeing that Kakashi had arrived, and that everyone else was now standing, Kyuubi got up.

"I'm glad you're all here. Today, we will be doing a survival test."

"But Kakashi-sensei, we did lots of those in the Academy," Sakura whined.

"But this one will be harder. And if you fail, you will be sent back to the Academy."

"WHAT!"

Kakashi waited until his ears stopped ringing. "Yes, don't be surprised. The final examination you took tested your ability to use techniques. This test will determine your ability to use them in a combat situation. Your goal," he pulled out two bells, each attached to a string, and put the ends of the strings into his belt. "...is to get a bell by noon, using any means necessary. Those who get a bell will pass. Those who do not will be sent back to the Academy."

"But sensei, there are only two bells," Sakura noted.

"Yes. So at least one of you will be going back to the Academy." Kakashi pulled out an alarm clock (who knows where he had been keeping it) and set it on one of the three posts in the clearing. "This clock will go off at noon. Now try and get the bells, starting now!"

Sasuke and Sakura each immediately leaped into the forest to hide. Kyuubi just stood where he was and stared absently at Kakshi. **_Kakashi is a jounin. We are genin. Barely. I might be able to get a bell if I use my power, but there has to be a trick to this. Not one of us, in theory, should be able to even touch him. Not one of us... Ah. This is supposed to build teamwork. Then why are there only two bells? Hm... Of course. That is to try and keep us from using teamwork. I see it now. But how can I convince the other two to work with me? Hm..._**

Kakashi waited for Naruto to go hide. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring at him. _What a weird kid. Maybe he's too lazy or too sleepy to hide. Whatever. It doesn't matter._ Kakashi pulled out his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. He read for a little while. _Isn't Naruto going to do anything? He's still staring at me._ Kakashi faced away from Naruto and kept reading. He could feel the boy's gaze burning into the back of his head. He turned around, and sure enough, Naruto was still staring. _I won't let a creepy genin freak me out. And what's up with his eyes? I think there's something wrong with them..._

Kyuubi came out of his thoughts with a start when he realized Kakashi was scrutinizing his eyes. Kakashi was ten feet away, but if he noticed the genjutsu... Kyuubi sprang into the forest to find the other genin.

_There's definitely something up with his eyes. It's almost like a genjutsu. But I don't think Naruto can even do a genjutsu. How weird._ Sensing something behind him, Kakashi whirled around and caught a kunai between his index finger and his middle finger. "Hello there, Sasuke."

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Kyuubi found Sakura easily, since her red outfit was only slightly less noticeable than his orange one. "Hey, Sakura," he whispered.

Sakura spun to face him, holding a kunai. "Oh, it's just you," she whispered back.

"Sakura, this is supposed to be a teamwork exercise. We need to work together with Sasuke to get the bells."

"But Kakashi-sensei said-"

"Forget what he said," Kyuubi hissed. "That was just to make it less obvious."

Sakura thought for a moment. _Yeah, he's right. Why didn't I see that?_

They heard a disturbance back towards the clearing. They nodded, and crept back toward the clearing to see what was happening.

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Sasuke scowled at Kakashi as the jounin towered over him, smirking. Not only was Kakashi taller than Sasuke by at least a foot, but Sasuke had been buried up to his chin. Kakashi pulled his book back out and resumed reading. That had been more fun than he had thought. The boy was obviously talented, but talent wasn't important in this exercise.

Kyuubi and Sakura saw Kakashi standing next to Sasuke's head. Kyuubi slapped a hand over Sakura's mouth just in time to prevent a loud "Sasuke-kun!" from giving away their postition. After shooting Kyuubi a dirty look, Sakura realized why he had done that. Being the smartest kunoichi in her class, she came up with a plan to get Sasuke and then have all three of them attack Kakashi. She quickly whispered the plan to Kyuubi, who made a few suggestions of his own, while still trying to speak as little as possible. Once they settled the plan, Kyuubi nodded and snuck to the designated location. Once he was in place, Sakura struck.

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Kakashi wondered what had happened to the other two genin. Maybe they had decided to leave. At any rate, he would wait until noon just to be sure. He continued to read his book, smirking when he heard Sasuke resume his attempt to wriggle out of the ground.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Are you alright!" Sakura burst from the edge of the forest, running towards Sasuke. Kakashi rolled his eyes. Had he seen that coming, or had he seen that coming... He walked towards Sakura, who was frantically trying to dig Sasuke out.

Feeling a presence behind him, Kakashi dodged to the side and turned around. Naruto stood where Kakashi had been not even a second ago. Kakashi smirked. The boy had obviously hoped to use Sakura's outburst to-

Kakashi dodged to the side to avoid a kunai from Sakura, then again to avoid one of Naruto's. Kakashi's eyes widened. _Sakura only faked her outburst! Or did she just see an opportunity arrise while digging?_ Kakashi backed up to the edge of the forest, looking at the three genin in the middle of the clearing. Naruto and Sakura finished digging out Sasuke, and then they began whispering amongst themselves. Kakashi smiled. _Maybe they got the teamwork part of it, but they're still standing out in the open. Time to- Dodge!_

Kakashi moved out of the way just as a kunai whizzed past him from behind. He turned to see where it had come from. He jumped out of the way of the kunai the three genin began throwing his way. _A kunai trap, perhaps?_ His instincts suddenly screamed for him to move, and Kakashi dodged to the side to avoid a kunai thrown from a different side. _How many traps did they set up? Or maybe one of them is a bunshin, to allow the third to throw kunai from the forest._ Kakashi considered opening his Sharingan to see for sure, but decided against it. _They're just genin. I can't go that hard on them._

Suddenly the three genin in the clearing began throwing lots of kunai, and at least twice as many as they were throwing began flying out of the forest. Kakashi dodged around, working his way towards the genin in the middle. He knew that at least two of them were real, since normal replications had no physical substance, and therefore couldn't dig up Sasuke, whom he knew was real.

Suddenly Naruto ran from his spot in the clearing straight at Kakashi. Kakashi smirked. _This kid has no idea what he's in for. I'll just dodge to the side, and-_ Kakashi suddenly realized that the genin were no longer aiming for him, but were throwing their kunai just around Naruto, to keep Kakashi from dodging. Looking back, he noticed that the kunai from directly behind him were the only ones not hemming him in towards Naruto. Those kunai were coming straight at him, and he couldn't dodge them. _Naruto is going to hate me for this,_ Kakashi thought. He grabbed Naruto by the arm, swung him around, and used him as a shield for the kunai behind him.

To Kakashi's great surprise, Naruto disappeared in cloud of smoke just before the kunai hit, allowing five of them to plant themselves into Kakashi's chest. Stunned by Naruto's disappearance and the pain of having several kunai stuck in his torso, Kakashi failed to notice Sasuke coming up behind him until the last moment. He turned and blocked Sasuke's punch and the following kick, when he felt a slight tug on his belt, looking down, he saw that the bells were gone.

Sakura giggled tossed a bell to Naruto, who had just come out of the forest.. She was sure that this was a teamwork exercise by now, and so was not worried about Sasuke failing. Sasuke stopped his attack and waited quietly.

Kakashi stood, amazed at the work of these three genin. "Uh, you guys apparently figured out the real purpose of this test, and I guess you pass. We'll meet here at 8:00 in two days. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see a doctor." With that, Kakashi vanished in a poof of smoke.

Sakura ran over to Sasuke. "Great job Sasuke! Hey, do you want to go to lunch with me to celebrate?"

"No."

"Well, okay then. Naruto, I guess we could..."

She turned, and noticed that Naruto wasn't even there. _Where'd he go?_ She jogged to catch up with Sasuke, who had started down the path back to Konoha. "Can I walk back with you, at least, Sasuke?"

"Whatever."

Sakura giggled.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	7. The awakening

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... And I may not be updating quite as often now, because I am getting a certain game (Oblivion, if anyone cares), and I will be spending a lot of time playing that. Fear not, for I shall not abandon this story. I hate it when authors begin great stories and then slow the updates to a crawl and then quit, so I shall not inflict that pain on any of you. I am rather absent-minded, so if I don't post for more than a week, send me a message or something. It's possible that I may have forgotten to post or (Heaven forbid) write the next chapter, and feedback is the sole reason I write this, as I make absolutely no money off of it. Also, if the dialogue in this chapter sounds weird, it's because I find it difficult to fit things I want coming up later in the story without setting them up through dialogue, but Kyuubi is hard to write for, and I had to go back and rewrite some of this because I forgot to make Naruto depressed (Yes, I am that forgetful). Enjoy! -demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi jumped from tree to tree, heading back to his normal training area. Although team 7 had passed the test, Kyuubi could tell that Kakashi had been holding back. The only technique the jounin had used was whatever had buried Sasuke. Other than that, Kakashi had only used taijutsu. **_I need to get stronger. I need to be able to defend myself against these humans, because if I am ever found out..._**

He arrived at the training area, stopping in front of the posts that seemed to be in every area. **_And I still need to buy those weights, and that clothing. But no one will sell to me. I need to find a way._** Kyuubi began sprinting to the east edge of the field. If he couldn't use weights yet, then he would just have to run faster.

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Naruto opened his eyes. It was dark, but he could faintly see the outlines of a hallway lined with doors. Naruto stood up, wiping off the muck that had been on the floor. _Just great. Where am I?_ Naruto looked around. He didn't recognize this place, though it seemed strangely familiar. Then he noticed a light up ahead. Or, rather, a dim orange glow. _Is there a fire in here? I don't smell anything..._ Naruto walked towards the light, which came from around the corner at one end of the hall. The other end was so far away as to be out of sight in this darkness. Naruto pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner.

There was a huge room, which was mostly filled by an almost equally large cage. Inside the cage, Naruto saw a large, glowing figure. He had only seen a painting of it once, in an old history book. He had looked in the book a long time ago, when he was still an obnoxious kid. He only looked because it was in the 'forbidden' part of the library. The caption of the picture had read, 'Kyuubi no kitsune.'

Naruto stared at the giant nine-tailed fox. It seemed to be occupied with something. It stared towards the ceiling, almost like it was looking past it. A long trail of chakra reached out of the cage and around another corner. Naruto stepped out into the open. The fox didn't react. Naruto followed the chakra around the corner. The chakra ended at a large chair, where it gathered in the seat.

Naruto walked back to the room with the cage. The fox hadn't moved at all. Naruto looked at the ceiling. There was nothing on it. He looked back at the fox. It was still staring intently at the ceiling, completely ignoring him. Or maybe it just didn't notice him. Naruto looked back up. He tried to focus past the ceiling. He felt a strange sensation, like he was expanding beyond the walls of the place.

The room vanished.

He saw trees rushing past him. He saw his hands pump at his sides, and heard his ragged breathing. But he felt nothing. He wasn't trying to run. He tried to look down at his body, but his head wouldn't move. His body kept running until it reached a large tree. His hand reached out and touched the tree, and then his body turned and began running the other way. He could tell from the sound of his breathing that he should be dead tired. But he didn't feel tired. He could tell when he saw the tree's move that he should feel a breeze. But he didn't. It was like something else was controlling his body.

He tried to pull back into the place he had been before, and he felt a strange constriction, like he was being pushed into a box too small to fit him. Suddenly he was back in the giant room with the cage. He looked at the fox demon, Kyuubi. It still stared at the ceiling with the same intensity. _Kyuubi is controlling the body. But if I'm not in my body, where am I?_

Naruto looked past the ceiling again. His body was still running. What was he to do? He didn't mind watching life this way. In fact, it might be preferable to actually living it. If something or someone showed up, and he didn't want to listen to their hurtful remarks, he could go back to the strange room. _This is going to be really boring if all Kyuubi, at least, I think it's Kyuubi, does is run._ Trees continued to rush by him. Naruto sighed. At least, he sighed as much as you can when you don't have a body, anyway.

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Kyuubi spun around, drawing a kunai. Someone was here. Watching him. He had heard their breathing, but for some reason, he couldn't tell where it had come from. He sniffed the air. Nothing. He listened intently. Nothing. He couldn't sense anything, even with his enhanced senses. But a skilled ninja might be able to hide the signs of their presence. _Why'd he stop all the sudden?_ At the sound of the voice, Kyuubi dodged to the side and turned to face the other way. No one was there. And again, he couldn't tell where the sound had come from.

"Who's there?" he asked the air. Silence settled over the training area. Kyuubi heard what sounded like a whistle, and hurled a kunai at the sound. A small bird, skewered by the blade, fell to the ground, guilty only of trying to sing. Kyuubi tensed his muscles, waiting for any hint of another presence. No one could stay silent forever.

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Naruto realized what was going on. He may not have been the brightest ninja, but he saw that every time he tried to make a sound, Kyuubi reacted. Maybe Kyuubi could hear him. He decided to test this theory. _This is way better than dealing with the villagers._ Naruto frowned, realizing that what he really wanted was to be friends with Kyuubi. _It may be better than no friends, but... a demon? Man, my life sucks..._

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_Hello, Kyuubi._

Kyuubi flinched. How could anyone have figured it out? He looked around wildly, but saw no one.

_Can't you figure it out? Doesn't my voice sound familiar?_

It did sound somewhat familiar, but Kyuubi couldn't think of anyone. "Who are you?" he asked. Then it hit him. **_His voice is exactly the same as mine. Meaning..._** "Naruto?"

_In the flesh. Well, not really, but you get the picture._

**_This could be useful,_** thought Kyuubi. **_Naruto can help me to act convincingly human. Unless... Unless he tries to take back control of the body! I have hardly any grip on my control at all, since I have to reach way out of the seal to get to the point of control. If he decides to take control, I will be trapped back there again! What can I say to convince him to leave the chair alone? Maybe, if I-_**

_You do realize I can hear all of that, right?_

_**...You can hear my thoughts?**_

_Yes._

_**...Then I guess all I can do is ask you to let me use your body?**_

_Yeah._

**_So, can I?_** Kyuubi hoped for the impossible. Maybe this kid would go back into a coma or whatever. Maybe he would-

_Yeah. I like this arrangement better anyway._

_**Did I hear you correctly?** _Kyuubi could hardly believe that he could have such good luck. **_Did you just say what I think you said?_**

_Yes, I did. Everyone hates me, so I don't really want to go out there anymore. Besides, you haven't done anything too bad yet, and it's been... How long have I been gone?_

_**Three days.**_

_Ah. And before you ask, I can help you get your human act down, if you like. Not that I'm probably the best human to ask, but..._

_**But I can't really ask anyone else.**_

_Yeah._

_**And Naruto? Is there any way that I can buy things? I need to buy some weights and clothing that isn't orange...**_

_What's wrong with orange?_

_**What do you mean, 'What's wrong with orange?'! Any competent ninja would be practically blinded by it before I could sneak up on them!**_

_Oh. Uh... How did you act when you tried to buy the stuff?_

_**Like any other customer. I tried to walk in, and the owners freaked out and told me to go away, so I told them to shove off, and they decided that warranted attacking me, and, yeah...**_

_That won't work. If anything, you basically need to grovel, and offer to pay extra. I've never actually bought anything but ramen, and I only bought that from Ichiraku. The owner there seemed to like me, so..._

_**Grovel! You expect the great demon, Kyuubi no kitsune, to grovel for clothing and hunks of heavy metal!**_

_Yeah.. Unless you want me to try it. I could control the body and do it for you._

Kyuubi considered that for a second. **_Would you be able to relinquish control of the body after doing that?_**

_...I don't know. I don't really know how I got here in the first place. There's only one way to find out, though..._

Kyuubi thought about that. Was he willing to risk his only chance at freedom to spare his pride? **_It's not worth it. I can't..._** Then Kyuubi visualized himself grovelling before filthy shopkeepers to be able to buy their goods at an inflated cost. **_Scratch that. We'll try it. It's a little after noon right now. Why don't we go now? You'll need to go sit in that chair to control the body._**

_What are we going to do about money, Kyuubi? I never had much, and certainly not enough to buy good weights and clothing..._

_**I've already got that taken care of. Just go sit in the chair before I start doubting my decision.**_

Naruto returned to the room with the cage, which he now thought to be his mind. He walked around the corner to the chair. As he appoached this time, the reddish-orange chakra pulled back. Naruto sat in the chair.

Nothing happened. _What is wrong? Why isn't anything happening?_ Then Naruto thought of something. He tried to focus past the ceiling. He experienced the strange feeling of expansion as he returned to the real world.

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Naruto sat up, rubbing his head. When Kyuubi had relinquished control, the body had fallen onto the ground and the head had hit a rock. _Why am I thinking of my head as 'the head'? Whatever..._

_**We need to work on that transition if we ever have to do that again, kit.**_

_If I can let you control the body again._

_**Don't remind me. Now get moving! I have to train this body to avoid getting killed by any stupid ninja!**_

_Where's the money you were talking about?_

_**It's under the mattress of your bed. And maybe you should buy several different levels of weights, so that we can increase the weight as our body becomes stronger.**_

Naruto smiled slightly. Maybe he would have a friend after all. Even if it was a demon...

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End of chapter. Please review!


	8. Purchases

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... I would have updated a day or so sooner, but I was forced to take an unexpected trip over the weekend, and got back only recently. Sorry if I made you impatient, but I will try to update at least once a week from now on. Enjoy!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Naruto walked along as the morning sun shone from behind him. It felt weird to wander around Konoha now. Although he was still as alive as he had ever been, he felt more at home in the dark hallways of his mind than he did out here. It was hard to act normal. Especially after hearing about how he had gotten a nine-tailed demon fox sealed into him. Kyuubi had graciously explained how the whole thing happened, although he had refused to say anything about why he had attacked Konoha in the first place. Given all that had happened to him recently, that he was able to act normal was almost a miracle. Especially with Kyuubi talking to him while he walked.

_**Like I was saying kit, we need to get several different levels of weights, and a few black outfits, at least. That way we'll have a good chance of sneaking up on people when we're on missions.**_

_Yes, you've told me all this already._ Once Naruto had figured out how to talk to Kyuubi from within his mind, it was not at all hard to learn how to do it while out here._ And what's with the 'we'? I think I'm going to be hanging out in that place most of the time, so..._

_**Yes, but if we ever need to act really convincingly human, you'll need to come out. And so you'll need to train also, so that we won't be sitting ducks whenever we are acting. And there may be other situations where we may have to switch places for a time. So it will be 'we'.**_

_Ah._ Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha, looking for a good place to buy clothing. He knew where they would buy the weights, if the owner could be convinced to sell them. Seeing a likely store, Naruto walked towards it, but then remembered the scene that Kyuubi had made here yesterday. He would have to find another place to buy the clothing. Seeing another clothing store, he walked in.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing here, kid! Did I say you could come in!" the store's owner yelled from behind the counter, startling the customers in line.

"I'm very sorry, sir. I only need to buy some clothing. I did not mean to disturb you. I am willing to pay extra for inconveniencing you."

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Kyuubi watched from his cage as Naruto apologized and groveled. **_It's a good thing I let him do the talking. I wouldn't let anyone talk to me that way._** He continued to watch as Naruto bargained with the shopkeeper, who agreed to let him shop if Naruto would pay double price for everything.

When the kit finally began looking through the racks of clothing, Kyuubi began pointing out the clothes that they wanted to buy. **_Three pairs of those black pants. Two pairs of black boots. Three or four of those black long-sleeved shirts. Yes, everything needs to be black. No, I don't think we'll ever need to hide in anything that is a vibrant orange. No, I don't think orange would intimidate them. They would just think you're stupid. _**

_**Get two pairs of those black leather gloves. And two black vests. And three of those black head coverings. I know they don't looked like masks. You have to wrap them around your head. That way only your eyes show. That way you won't have to waste chakra on that jutsu I used to get the money. What jutsu? I'll tell you about it later. What? You dare accuse me of being a petty theif!... And get two black cloaks while you're at it. No, they aren't terribly useful in a fight, but if it's wet or cold, you might need them. What do you mean by that? You don't even know what your mother sounded like, how could you know that I sound like her! Just go buy the stupid clothes. We've gotten everything we needed here, I think.**_

Kyuubi remained quiet while Naruto bought the clothing. The shopkeeper glared daggers at Naruto, but wasn't going to pass up the profits from double-pricing the clothes.

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Naruto placed the clothes on his bed. Now he was supposed to buy weights. _At least Kyuubi hadn't tried to buy them yesterday._

**_What do you mean by that, kit!_**

Naruto almost laughed. He hadn't had any friends before, and Kyuubi wasn't the ideal type, and probably only cooperated because he was afraid of losing the body, but a friend was a friend. Naruto was happier than he could recall being in a long time. As he walked along the road, he mused on his former life. Everyone hated him. He couldn't blame them, really. They had lost so much to Kyuubi, and so when it was sealed in him, they just assumed that he was Kyuubi.

He walked into the blacksmith's shop to buy some weights.

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Kyuubi watched as Naruto groveled with the blacksmith. He watched as the blacksmith eventually agreed to make the weights, provided Naruto paid triple the price. The smith told Naruto to come back the next day for the first set, and a week after that for the rest of them. Naruto handed over the money and walked out of the shop.

_**You didn't have to pay that much, Naruto! They were expensive enough as it was!**_

_He wouldn't have agreed to sell at all if I hadn't agreed to pay that much._

_**Whatever.**_

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When they arrived back at Naruto's house, Naruto set the weights onto the bed.

_I'm not sure if I can do this, but here goes nothing..._

Naruto concentrated on returning to the darkened room. His bedroom became blurry, and he felt like he was being crushed by gravity, but with no pain. When his vision cleared, he found himself in the dark room, still sitting on the strange throne. He got up, and a mass of orange-red chakra moved to fill in the seat of the chair. He was back.

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Kyuubi withdrew back into the cage, and felt around the corner with his chakra. When Naruto rose from the chair, Kyuubi quickly took control. He filled the seat with his chakra, and looked beyond his prison, into the world of mortals. He was back.

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End of chapter. Yeah, it was kind of short. Sorry. By the way, what does everyone think about a possible NaruIno? I can either have a NaruIno, or make Kyuubi eat her soul. What do my faithful readers think? Please review!


	9. The C class mission

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it...In the future, I will probably be updating about once a week, because a) I'm lazy, b) I have no typing skills whatsoever, and c) School starts soon. I have received many requests for Kyuubi to eat Ino's soul, and a paltry few for NaruIno. If you want NaruIno, speak soon or forever hold your peace! Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi was pleased with the progress he had made in his training. Once he had picked up the first set of weights, he had begun using them immediately, and now the results were showing in his practice sessions with himself and his Shadow Clones. He had the extra weights at home, and it was about time to switch to the second set. Kyuubi was already about twice as fast as before. Granted, it was because he spent almost every waking hour performing techniques while sprinting through the forest, and he only had to let this body recuperate a few hours a day. The body's chakra capacity was improving, though not as fast as Kyuubi would have liked. And he was learning human customs from Naruto, who seemed almost pathetically nice to the demon.

_**I guess he really was lonely.**_

Kyuubi walked towards the Hokage's office to meet with his team. They were supposed to be getting another mission today.

_**With any luck, it will be an easy one like finding that stupid cat. Then I can get back to training.**_

Before entering the office, he instinctively checked the genjutsu on his eyes. Still there, and it felt fine. Kyuubi walked into the office.

"Naruto! You're an hour late! Don't you care at all!" Sakura screamed at him.

Kyuubi looked around. **_Kakashi isn't here yet, so why is she getting so worked up? Females..._**

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About 15 minutes later...

The door opened, and Kakashi slouched into the room. "Sorry guys, but there was an old lady who needed help carrying some groceries, and-"

"NO THERE WASN"T! YOU LOUSY-"

"Ahem."

Sakura glanced over at the Hokage, who was looking at her with an amused smile.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama."

"It's fine. Team seven, now that you are all here," the Sandaime glanced pointedly at Kakashi, "I can give you your mission. Due to a lack of requests for missions lately, you will be getting a C-ranked mission."

Sasuke smirked. _Now I can test my skills against other ninja. Then I will know how much more I need to train to kill Itachi._

Sakura smiled, happy to get a mission that didn't involve retrieving cats. Inner Sakura ranted on about impressing Sasuke.

Kyuubi forwned. **_This probably means that the mission will take more than a few hours. I need to train! I need to be able to defend myself, and stay alive!_**

Sarutobi continued, "You are to escort a man, Tazuna, to Wave country. You will be protecting him from bandits and highwaymen. Once you arrive, you will continue to guard him until a project he is working on is complete. You will be protecting him from bandits and thugs while you are there. You may return once his project is complete, or after staying there for a month. Tazuna will be taking care of your meals. You will be leaving tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

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Team seven waited by the gates for Tazuna. Even Kakashi had only been five minutes late.

Kyuubi was unhappy about the mission. **_I need to train! At least we only have to worry about bandits and such. But it takes away from my training time. At least I can train on my speed and endurance while we're out there._**

Kyuubi felt himself to make sure that the second set of weights was firmly in place. Naruto had said that Kyuubi could train on speed and endurance by acting hyper and running around, because no one on the team knew about the weights. It would make him look silly, but at least he could train.

He watched a man dressed in shabby clothes approach. The man was drinking from a bottle as he walked. He walked up to them, but instead of passing, he stopped.

"Are you guys ready to go?" the man asked.

"Yes," Kakashi said. "Let's go."

Kyuubi frowned. **_We have to escort this guy? How on earth could he afford a C-ranked mission?_** Kyuubi followed behind Kakashi and the man who must be Tazuna. This was going to be a long mission.

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Kyuubi ran in circles around the group. He ran into the forest and back out. He jumped over Kakashi and Sasuke. After the first hour of this, Tazuna and the rest of Team Seven just ignored him.

_The dead-last must be excited about the mission,_ thought Sasuke.

They walked along, Kakashi and Tazuna talking about the project Tazuna was working on, a giant bridge. They passed a puddle.

Kyuubi stopped. He smelled something. **_What is that smell? It smells like there was a person... no, two people here just a few minutes ago. And I smell metal, like the stuff they use in kunai. Ninja? Maybe we aren't the only people out on a mission._** Kyuubi ran to catch up with the group, splashing through the puddle in his hurry.

Two shapes silently rose from the puddle. The first clutched his head, and muttered curses. Then they both silently followed team seven.

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Kyuubi was sprinting around and around the group, when he saw the two figures creeping up behind them. He ran towards Kakashi, and whispered, "Two behind," before continuing to sprint around team seven like nothing was the matter.

Kakashi was pleasantly surprised that Naruto had noticed the stalkers. Although Kakashi had noticed the puddle that should not have been there due to a lack of rain, he had not known exactly how many there were. _Maybe Naruto isn't as shallow as I thought._

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"Aren't you excited to be on a C-class mission, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke said nothing.

Sakura pouted, while Inner Sakura yelled that true love would conquer all barriers.

Suddenly, two cloaked men appeared on either side of Kakashi and wrapped spiked chains around him. They both pulled, ripping the jounin into shreds. Then they charged at Tazuna and the two genin. Kyuubi was running around in the forest.

Sasuke drew a kunai for each hand, and dropped into a crouch. The cloaked men flung their chains around the genin, hoping to catch them inside. Sakura grabbed Tazuna and got both of them out of the way, while Sasuke leapt straight at their assailants.

The two men fought Sasuke for a while, dodging kunai and swinging their spiked chains and gauntlets. They couldn't touch Sasuke, but neither could Sasuke touch them. Suddenly Sasuke jumped back, rapidly forming seals. He put his hand to his mouth and blew a large fireball at the cloaked men.

When he stopped, Sasuke saw nothing but scorched ground. The two men dropped from above him, landing on either side of him. Their chains were held ready. Sasuke braced himself for the end.

Then he saw a crowd of Naruto's pour out of the forest from every direction. The men flung their chains out to intercept the attack, but there were too many to stop.

Sasuke, seeing their distraction, stabbed them both in the back with his kunai. Then the men were knocked back into a large tree by flying punches by two Naruto clones. Before they could leave, they heard a chillingly cheerful voice say, "Did you just hurt Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura wailed on the two men senseless until Kakashi stepped out of the trees and said, "That's enough, Sakura."

"Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!" Sakura squealed.

"Obviously." Sakura face-faulted. "You guys did well. Naruto, good job with the sneak attack. Sasuke, you took advantage of Naruto's attack very well. Sakura... you knocked them unconscious for us. Good job, everyone."

"Tazuna," Kakashi turned to face the sheepish bridge-builder. "You have some explaining to do."

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End of chapter. Let me know what you want done with Ino. If you have suggestions, comments, corrections, etc., about Ino or anything else, feel free to let me know. Please review!


	10. Zabuza, Demon of the Mist

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kakashi sighed.

Yesterday, Tazuna had admitted, after a few glares, that he had known that there might be ninja after him, but that his village could not afford a class B mission, so the deception had been necessary. Kakashi had decided to proceed with the mission, after Tazuna guilted him into it by saying that they could leave a poor old man to fend for himself if they wished.

Kakashi sighed again. It was bad enough that they had to be on the lookout for ninja, but did Naruto plan to run around like a squirrel on speed for the entire mission? To be sure, it could possibly prevent an ambush. But more likely, Naruto would be ambushed while he sprinted around in the woods.

Then again, Kakashi didn't want Naruto to go back to running in circles around the group. Not only was it annoying, but Naruto kicked up dust, so that there was always a cloud of dust around them. And it disturbed Tazuna, who thought that no normal kid should have that much energy.

"Naruto."

Said boy rushed from the forest and stopped next to Kakashi. He fell into step with the jounin, asking, "What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Naruto, I know that this may be boring, and that you might have excess energy, but you need to contain yourself. We might need that energy should we run into any more ninja."

"But Kakashi-sensei-"

"No buts. Just stop."

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Kyuubi was pissed. Not only was he on an extra-long mission where he might run into people who might be able to kill him, but he wasn't allowed to train, either!

_You know, you sounded like a whiny brat back there._

And he had to put up with sarcastic comments from his host, who seemed more cheerful than Kyuubi could remember.

_**I am a demon, not some human you can joke about! If I had my body, I would rip you limb from limb! There wouldn't be enough of you left to fill a jewelry box!**_

Kyuubi and Naruto had gotten used to each other, more or less. Naruto would offer advice on human things, and pointed out things that Kyuubi may have overlooked. Kyuubi had never learned how to read emotions from tones and expressions, and, though he saw little point in it, agreed to listen to whatever advice Naruto thought of from time to time.

They were working on a system to work together in combat. Kyuubi would pay attention to a single target, while Naruto would watch the surroundings from his vantage in his own mind. They had only tested it out once, during the short time they had engaged the Demon Brothers. AN: For anyone who doesn't know, those were the two ninja from the last chapter. It seemed to work okay, but they would keep training, if they ever got the chance.

When there was nothing to do, as seemed to happen often on this mission, Naruto would tease Kyuubi, who would respond with venom. This seemed to amuse Naruto, who would continue teasing. Kyuubi didn't actually mind Naruto so much, and usually responded only to try and defend his dignity as a powerful demon.

_But you don't have a body, do you? You have to borrow mine._

_**Step inside my cage, and then we'll see if you still have your annoying sense of humor.**_

_Actually, I'm just fine from out here._

"Get down!"

Kyuubi crouched low to the ground as a huge sword flew overhead and embedded itself into a tree on the other side of the clearing. A man jumped onto the sword. He was dressed in light blue, baggy pants, dark brown shoes, and wrapping around his hands and lower face.

Kakashi was fully alert, though he didn't betray his anxiety on the outside. "Zabuza, demon of the mist."

The genin and Tazuna stood up. "Who's Zabuza?" Sakura asked.

"He's a missing-nin from the Hidden Mist. You three, guard Tazuna. I'll handle Zabuza."

"How noble. The great copy-nin will protect his brats."

Suddenly Zabuza appeared next to Tazuna.

_**We're still not fast enough! We've been training this whole time and I can't even see him move!**_

'_This whole time' hasn't even been two weeks. Good grief._

"Try and protect them from this!" Zabuza swung his sword. Or tried to, only to discover that Kakashi was holding on to it. Sakura pulled Tazuna away while Sasuke and Kyuubi took positions around Kakashi and Zabuza.

The genin watched in awe as the two fought, seemingly tireless. Zabuza skept swinging his mammoth sword like it had no weight, but Kakashi always dodged it like the sword was moving through molasses. Kakashi lashed out with kunai, which were either blocked with the sword, or wasted on a water clone. Neither could land a good blow on the other.

Suddenly, Zabuza leapt onto a tree branch. "I'll let you go this time, but that bridge will not be built! If you continue, I won't go so easy on you next time!" Zabuza rushed into the nearby forest.

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The group arrived at Tazuna's house without further incident, late the next evening. They ate with Tazuna, his daughter, Tsunami, and, for a time, her son, Inari. Inari stormed off in the middle of the meal, declaring that they were all going to die.

After Sasuke refused to go for a walk with her, Sakura retired for the night. Sasuke went to bed soon after.

Kyuubi went to his cot and listened to the sounds in the house. When he was sure that everyone was asleep, he snuck out of the house to train. Because he had missed out on training in the last two days, he decided to do things a little different. Fighting shadow clones while sprinting though the forest. It would have to be taijutsu-only, because the sound of techiniques or the clang of kunai might have been heard back in the house.

Kyuubi trained until the horizon began to light up. He hurried back to the house, and feigned sleep until Sasuke came to wake him.

"Hey dobe, get up. We have to guard Tazuna at the bridge today."

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Kyuubi sprinted around the bridge. Sasuke had, in vain, tried to convince him to lie in hiding and watch for the Zabuza. In the end, Sasuke took it upon himself to watch around the shore, leaving Naruto to guard the edge of the bridge.

Hours passed. The two genin ate lunch together in silence, before returning to their posts. A fog began to creep around the bridge. Sasuke thought nothing of it until he heard a man laughing right behind him.

"Kakashi can't protect you now, brat."

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Naruto was sprinting around the edge of the bridge in the mist when he heard someone land beside him, and saw a dark shape keeping pace with him as he ran. He stopped and faced the figure.

"I do not wish to hurt you, but Zabuza-san cannot allow this bridge to be finished."

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End of chapter. Please review!


	11. Battle on the bridge

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Yes, the chapters are short, but at least I update on a fairly regular basis. Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Sasuke spun around. There stood Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. Kakashi was at Tazuna's house working with Sakura on some training exercise. Naruto was on the other end of the bridge.

_I can't lose to him,_ thought Sasuke. _I must survive, so that I can avenge my clan. If I am to beat my brother, I have to be able to beat this guy!_

Zabuza formed a seal which Sasuke couldn't identify through the mist, and vanished. Sasuke whirled around. Nothing. He looked behind him. Nothing.

_Where is he? I can't let him catch me off guard! I have to be ready!_

But no matter where he looked, Sasuke could find no trace of the mist-nin. This was going to be difficult.

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Kyuubi looked at the strange boy. **_Or is it a girl?_** The nin just stared back. Neither of them moved. The nin, Haku, tensed his muscles. At any moment, the boy would either spring to attack or to run away. If the boy ran away, that was fine. But if he attacked, then...

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

Haku flinched. Everywhere he went, people had the nerve to question his manliness! He would show up and knock people around, and no one ever asked, 'How did you get so strong?', or, 'Where did you learn to do that?' It was always, 'Are you really a man?' 'Are you a boy or a girl?' He hated that! This kid was not getting away. Haku wasn't going to kill the boy, but he would make him suffer for asking such a dumb question.

Kyuubi mentally smiled. The kit had been right. _Of course I was right! I'm the human here! I would know!_ Kyuubi ignored the voices in his head for now. He had distracted the nin with his innocent sounding jab, and now he could attack.

Kyuubi lashed out with a spray of kunai. The nin, though distracted, dodged the projectiles at a speed Kyuubi could barely see. **_Uh, oh. That can't be good._** Kyuubi twisted around just in time to see the nin fling a handful of senbon in his direction from behind. Kyuubi dodged them, but with considerably less grace than the mist-nin had shown. Kyuubi jumped at the nin, who almost lazily moved out of the way and stuck several of the needles into his back. The demon blocked out the pain, and the voice of the annoying human in the back of his mind.

Kyuubi formed a familiar seal, and a dozen clones appeared. Immediately, they ran straight at the gender-impaired nin, each holding kunai in both hands. The nin fired senbon in a circle around himself/herself, dispelling all the clones before they could reach him/her.

Kyuubi, who had not attacked, frowned. **_This could be harder than I had thought._** Again ignoring the voice in his head, which was yelling about something, Kyuubi summoned another dozen clones to the battleground. These clones flung kunai from a range, but Haku dodged them with an eery grace, and quickly dispatched all of them.

Kyuubi realized that this opponent was fast. Apparently, the demon was not near where he needed to be in terms of speed. It was only when the nin charged at him, flinging senbon, that Naruto's voice registered in his mind.

_You idiot! Take off your weights!_

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Sasuke panted for breath. Every time he thought he had gotten the upper hand, his target would dissolve into water. Just how many water clones could a guy make?

Apparently a lot, thought Sasuke as he snatched kunai out of yet another melting clone. He had to salvage kunai from fallen clones and from the deck of the bridge, as he had run out a while ago. Sasuke had the distinct impression that Zabuza was playing with him.

Sasuke dodged to the side, barely avoiding being chopped in half by that monstrous sword. He stabbed his assailant in the back, and was not surprised when it, too, dissolved into a puddle. Sasuke couldn't keep this up for much longer.

As if he had read Sasuke's mind, Zabuza attacked anew, with four images of himself converging on Sasuke's position, one from every side. Sasuke threw his remaing three kunai at three of the images, and lept into the air, hoping to get out of the range of the swords. One image was struck in the shoulder, and splattered onto the deck. But the other three jumped after him. Sasuke pulled out his only remaining weapon, his Fuma shuriken, and turned around, preparing to block the swords with it.

Instead, another image, perhaps the real Zabuza, appeared behind him and slapped Sasuke across the bridge with the flat of his blade.

Sasuke landed hard and rolled to the small wall at the edge of the bridge. He could n't move his legs, and he couldn't move his arms without excruciating pain shooting through his back. He had no idea where his shuriken had landed. He could only watch as Zabuza walked toward him out of the mist, holding that massive sword on one shoulder.

"I was holding out for your teacher to show up. I was really looking forward to a rematch. I thought our session here would attract his attention. But since it obviously didn't, perhaps your death will succeed where this pointless fight did not." Zabuza raised his sword. Sasuke braced for the end.

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Kyuubi was kicked across the bridge. He had been too surprised by Naruto's comment to react in time. **_How could I forget about the weights? Of course! I knew I should be faster than this!_**

Kyuubi dropped his weights onto the ground by undoing the rope that held them on. He had specifically designed his weights so that he could take them all off by untying a single knot. That way, he could take them off in the middle of a fight. Like now.

The weights landed with a loud metallic clanging, chipping bits of the concrete. Kyuubi suddenly realized that those weights had been heavy. He felt like he needed to grip the ground to keep from floating away. Pulling out a kunai, he charged at Haku.

The mist-nin dodged Kyuubi's slash, but only by inches, and without the usual flourish. Kyuubi skimmed across the surface of the bridge, running after his gender-neutral opponent.

Haku stopped an turned around. Now that he was out of the boy's reach, he needed to make a plan. He needed-

Haku's train of thought was interuppted by a fist crushing his mask into his face. Haku fell back several feet. Then he remembered what Zabuza-san had said.

'If your opponent is tough, kill him. Otherwise we'll have to fight him again. Don't be so soft that you endanger our safety.'

Kyuubi saw the boy get up and form a strange seal, one that he did not recongnize. Water from the bridge rose up and froze in long, flat sheets around him. Then he saw Haku jump _into_ one of the mirror-like sheets of ice. Suddenly, every sheet around him showed an image of Haku.

Kyuubi smirked, throwing a kunai into the mirror that Haku had entered. It shattered. But immediately, more water rose up and made another sheet of ice, complete with an image of Haku. Kyuubi saw all of the images raise hands full of senbon. The images threw the needles.

Kyuubi saw needles fly from seemingly every direction. He knew that there could only be one of the nin. And he could occasionally make out a faint blur that must have been the nin. But it was too much to think about at the moment. Kyuubi covered his head as senbon rained down upon him. They kept coming and coming. Kyuubi realized from the chill spreading from the many needles imbedded in him that they were made out of ice. Which the nin probably made from the water around them. And since they were out on the ocean right now...

Kyuubi began to grow tired. He didn't feel exhausted. He felt a peaceful sort of sleepiness. The needles didn't hurt as much. The edges of his vision began to darken. **_I wonder what's going on,_** Kyuubi mused. He didn't really care. He just wanted to sleep.

_Kyuubi! You're dying! Snap out of it!_

_**Oh. How nice. I guess that-**_

_**What!**_

Kyuubi forced as much of his own chakra into Naruto's body as the body could take for the few minutes he would need it. The sudden release of so much energy made the concrete of the bridge ripple and crack around his feet. Senbon popped out of his skin, and all of his wounds healed without so much as a mark to show their former existence.

The genjutsu over his eyes broke, revealing the bloodshot eyes with slitted pupils and red-orange irises. The whisker marking on his cheeks lengthened and thickened, giving the impression of long claw marks across his face. Fiery, red-orange chakra enveloped his body. The chakra formed a vaguely fox-shaped silhouette around Naruto's body. Over each hand were claws made of chakra.

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Haku could only stare as the blonde boy suddenly healed. He could only stand there as the boy charged, screaming incoherently. He could only fall as the ferocious _thing_ ripped out his throat. And he could only scream silently as the boy began to eat him alive.

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End of chapter. Yeah. That was gruesome. Please review!


	12. Gatou

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... I could not update yesterday, because my internet connection went haywire. Sorry to anyone who might have caught on that I try to update every Saturday. You were right, but I was unable to do so. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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"I was holding out for your teacher to show up. I was really looking forward to a rematch. I thought our session here would attract his attention. But since it obviously didn't, perhaps your death will succeed where this pointless fight did not." Zabuza raised his sword.

Sasuke braced for the end. He heard a gasp of pain, but it sounded like it was coming from in front of him. _Is this what death is like?_ Sasuke opened his eyes.

In front of him stood Zabuza, still holding his sword above him. An arm stuck out from where his heart should have been. The hand glowed bright blue with chakra. Suddenly, the hand receded. Zabuza's now lifeless body collapsed to the ground. The monstrous sword fell to the side. And just behind Zabuza's body stood Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled his little smile, which you can only recognize from the way his eye looks. "Sorry I'm late. For real, this time. I shouldn't have let you and Naruto guard the bridge by yourselves."

Sasuke grunted in response.

"I need to go check on how Naruto's doing. Sakura will take care of you until I bring Naruto back here."

"Sasuke-kun! You're hurt!" Sakura ran over and kneeled beside Sasuke, as Kakashi hurried to the end of the bridge.

Sauke groaned as Sakura began fussing over him.

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_**Must replenish energy. Must feed.**_

Kyuubi tore into the still warm body of the fallen Haku.

_Kyuubi! Stop!_

The demon ignored Naruto's request.

_Kyuubi, I know you might be a little shaken by your first real brush with death, but if someone sees you, they might figure out what's going on!_

Kyuubi froze. Slowly, his thought's returned to normal. What if someone did see him? Kyuubi stood up and slowed the release of his chakra back to its normal level. He replaced the genjutsu over his eyes. He pulled his mask back over his face, as it had obviously been removed for... eating. Then he sat down.

_**I... almost died. And if that kit hadn't reminded me, I might have been seen, and then I would be hunted by ninja, instead of just running into them on missions.**_

_You could say thank you._

_**Thank... you... Naruto.**_

_We should probably go check on Sasuke. Zaubuza is at least as strong as this guy was._

_**Yeah. I guess so...**_

Kyuubi reluctantly got up and jogged over toward where Sasuke had been patrolling.

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Kakashi ran toward the end of the bridge. Zabuza would only have strong companions, and any ninja dumb enough to wear orange, _At least, he used to wear orange,_ would be easy prey for a decent ninja.

Then, Kakashi saw Naruto jogging his way. "Naruto!"

The boy stopped. Kakashi looked at him. There was blood everywhere. Blood covered Naruto's black shirt, pants, and mask. It was driping off of his chin, and from his fingertips. Every step left a red print on the ground. Naruto's entire outfit was now a dark red. His clothing was torn, and had more than a dozen holes in various places.

"Naruto! Are you alright?" Kakashi rushed to make sure that Naruto would be alright. Surely, with this much blood lost, the boy should be about to pass out.

"**I**'m fine, Kakashi-**se**nsei," Naruto replied in a gravelly voice.

Kakashi sighed in relief. He had been afraid of losing a student on his very first mission as a sensei. "Where is the nin you fought?"

Naruto pointed behind him.

"You didn't let him get away?"

Naruto shook his head in a negative manner.

"Very good, Naruto! Now let's see if we can't find out who was behind all this. Maybe there is a note on the ninja's body. If not, we can look at Zabuza's."

"**Yo**u don't want to see the **b**ody," Kyuubi said. Because of the recent release of so much chakra, it was going to be more difficult to speak normally for a while.

"We have to find out who was behind this, or this mission will have to continue until the bridge is finished."

Kyuubi grunted, but didn't argue. Kakashi began walking over in the direction Naruto had pointed. "Come on, Naruto."

Naruto followed slowly behind Kakashi, dreading what the jounin might discover.

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Sakura finished binding Sasuke's last open wound. "How are you feeling, Sasuke-kun?" she asked in a syrupy voice.

Sasuke grunted in response.

Sakura was about to speak when she heard many people walking toward her. She looked up, and saw a short man in a black suit, leading a large crowd of armed men. The man stopped when he saw her through the slowly clearing mist, and the men stopped behind him.

The man spoke. "Well, well, well! What have we here? A girl and a wounded ninja? Ha! Even if that stupid 'demon' couldn't kill you, at least he weakened you for my men to finish off. He pointed at the people on his left. "You men take care of these two. The rest of you, search the rest of the bridge. When you kill everyone there, plant the explosives."

The men he had finished speaking to hurried toward the end of the bridge. The man in the black suit stood where he was, and spoke to the rest of his men, who were walking over to Sakura. "Kill the boy. And do... whatever you want, with the girl. I want to see this."

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Kakashi stared in horror at the sight in front of him. Two wild dogs were busily eating the ninja's corpse. By the looks of it, the had already eaten the throat and the face, and were polishing off the right side of the body.

Kyuubi silently vowed to be nice to every dog he ever met again.

Naruto agreed. _That's twice you've been saved by wild dogs. You owe them big time._

Meanwhile, Kakashi was wondering how the dogs had gotten there. After another glance, he decided that there was not going to be anything salvageable from the ninja's body. He turned around and began walking the other way, when he heard Sakura scream. Kyuubi truned at the sound. But before Kakashi could sprint to Sakura's aid, a small crowd of armed men emerged came into view from the thin wisps of mist still hanging over the bridge.

"You're not going anywhere!" shouted one, and they all charged at Kakashi and Kyuubi.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	13. The bridge completed

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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The men ran as fast as they could straight at Kakashi and Kyuubi.

Kakashi turned to Kyuubi. "Naruto, you need to take care of yourself. Sasuke is seriously injured, and I don't think Sakura is well equipped for fighting, let alone protecting herself and someone else. I'm going to help her. I'll be back as soon as I can. Take care of yourself."

With that, Kakashi leapt over the crowd of men and continued toward the other end of the bridge.

The men ignored this and instead focused on the remaining ninja, Kyuubi.

_**Kuso! I can't use my power again so soon! It would tear this body to shreds! I need time to heal.**_

_Then just use what you've learned of ninja techniques._

_**That goes without saying, mortal!**_

_Don't call me mortal, or I won't let you-_

Kyuubi ignored the rest of whatever Naruto was saying in order to concentrate on the challenge before him. From the way they ran, it was obvious that none of them were ninja, or had even the slightest bit of training. **_Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought._**

Kyuubi flung a kunai at a man's unprotected forehead. The thug tried to dodge, and ended up taking it in his right eye, instead. His momentum clung his body onto its stomach, and the two men immediately behind him tripped on his corpse.

Kyuubi lashed out with several more kunai, and though most found their targets, only a few killed or incapacitated their victims. Kyuubi held onto the kunai in his left hand, and put out his right in front of him. When the first thug reached him, Kyuubi grabbed the man's shoulder and used it to push himself into the air. Once he was airborne, he spun around and kicked the men nearby.

Landing in the newly made clearing in the crowd, Kyuuubi leapt and slashed his kunai across the throat of a man still off-balance from the kick. Kyuubi spun around to slash another man, but was blocked by a sword. **_Some of them are armed._**

Seeing that the edges of the blade were not very sharp, Kyuubi grabbed the sword, and held it still while he slit it's owner's throat. The hand that he had put on the sword bled slightly, but Kyuubi paid it no mind. It wasn't as if he wasn't drenched in it from his last fight.

Kyuubi slashed, grabbed, spun, and stabbed. Then he stopped. The four men remaining from the crowd of perhaps two dozen stood about ten feet behind Kyuubi. To be sure, Kyuubi was not uninjured, but compared to the carnage around him, he had relatively few and minor injuries. A stray punch had knocked his mask from its place over his lower face. As he slowly truned to face the remaining men, their eyes widened at the sight of his face.

After the first few seconds, Kyuubi had begun enjoying the fight. Or maybe it would be better termed 'slaughter.' This showed in the expression on his face, the expression that terrified the four men. His mouth was contorted in a maniacal grin, and although the genjutsu on his eyes was still in place, they looked hardly less fierce than they could have without it.

The men ran.

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The men couldn't be blamed. They had just been scared out of their minds. So when they saw the second masked ninja look at them, it wasn't their fault that they panicked. They simply saw the bodies around the second ninja, and, not knowing that the bodies were unconscious but living people, they assumed the worst. So when the ninja looked at them, they did what seemed to be the only logical thing to do, and jumped off of the bridge.

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Kakashi was slightly confused. These men were supposed to be hardened thugs. So there was no reason for them to jump over the edge of the bridge. _Maybe the unconscious people around me frightened them._ Kakashi looked one last time to make sure that Sakura and Sasuke would be alright, and hurried to help Naruto.

As he ran towards the unfinished end of the bridge, a strong gust of wind came and blew the remaining mist away, revealing to Kakashi the reason for the thugs' panick. The entire end of the bridge was covered in blood, which was slowly draining off the bridge through the ducts made to divert rainwater. There were bodies strewn across the bridge, lying in unnatural poses with gruesome expressions on their faces.

And in the middle of it all, Kakashi saw Naruto. The boy stood facing him, mask on, and an unreadable expression in his eyes. The formerly black clothes were now a dark red, with a few cuts and nicks that had been added since Kakashi last saw them.

Kyuubi walked over to Kakashi. "Mission completed."

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Kakashi mused over the mission as he and his team made their way back toward Konoha. Tazuna had been relatively unfazed by the bloodshed, and had mentioned that it was about what Gatou had done several years ago. The four men had been located. Three of them had drowned, and the fourth had tried to kill those who found him the moment they came into view, and so had been killed.

The bridge had been completed, and the only signs of the fight were a few minuscule scratches here and there, and the plaque commemorating the 'Great Naruto Bridge' to the boy who had done the most for its completion.

Gatou was in jail, and likely would be for a long time.

Naruto now wore his spare outfit, having burned his other one. The dried blood had been impossible to wash out, and the smell made it impossible to remain undetected while wearing it.

Kakashi was worried about Naruto. _No boy should be able to kill so casually. For someone who has never taken a life, he did it far too easily for it to be natural. I understand that he had a troubled childhood, but could it really have been so bad as to deaden his touch with reality? Or maybe it wasn't his first time killing._

Kakashi had thought, at first, that it was just the Kyuubi that had allowed Naruto to kill like that. Kakashi had felt the Kyuubi's power during Naruto's fight with the other mist-nin. But during the second fight, there had been no surge of demonic chakra, no overwhelming presence of evil. There had been no hint of any outside influence. And yet Kakashi knew that no untrained boy should be able to kill so quickly, and remain so calm about it afterwards. Naruto acted exactly as he had before the mission, running in circles and occasionally complaining about their slow progress toward Konoha.

Kakashi would mention this to the Hokage privately. Maybe he would know something about it.

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Kyuubi sprinted through the forest, occasionally crossing paths with the group to make sure that they hadn't stopped. They did so every so often to tend to Sasuke's wounds.

Kyuubi acted exactly as he had before. Why shouldn't he? He had killed thousands of people, probably tens of thousands. A few dozen more didn't even come close to the number of people he had killed in seconds before. But something was up. Kakashi was much more quiet than usual, and he glanced at Kyuubi a lot.

_**He couldn't know... could he?**_

_Maybe you should have toned down the fight a little._

_**No. It is easier to kill than to capture, and I was in a hurry to avoid being killed.**_

_But you could have run away, and then Kakashi would have no reason to suspect you._

_**It's too late to worry about that now, kit. What has happened, has happened.**_

_And you need to get another outfit to replace the one you lost._

_**That goes without saying, mortal.**_

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Naruto ignored the 'mortal' comment. Kyuubi seemed to alternate between that and 'kit' depending upon his mood. Naruto knew why Kakashi was suspicious. Kids weren't supposed to be able to kill like that. He had tried to explain it to Kyuubi, but the demon didn't care. To him, killing was as natural as... whatever demons normally do. Kyuubi didn't see how it could be such a big deal. Naruto hoped that nothing would come of it.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	14. Suspicion?

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi mentally cursed himself. **_The kit was probably right. The only reason that Kakashi would have loitered around the Hokage's office would be to talk with the Hokage privately. Most likely about Naruto. Which means me._**

Kyuubi had to act normally, like he wasn't worried. So he went back to the most distant training grounds, the ones he normally used, and trained. He ran. His weights did not clang together while he ran, since they were covered in cloth. It was just as well that no one had noticed them on the mission. Kyuubi didn't need to answer any questions, and though he and Naruto practiced switching while allowing the body to rest, they still could not do it without the body going limp for a second or two, so it would be awkward to let Naruto answer.

Kyuubi reached the large tree at the end of the field, turned, and sprinted the other way. The tree was worn smooth in the spot he always tagged it. The bark was gone, and a smooth, light brown wood showed.

Kyuubi ran, occasionally throwing kunai or performing a technique. He followed the dirt path that he had made in what had once been a grassy field. **_Maybe Kakashi needed to talk about something else, or was waiting for someone,_** Kyuubi thought. But inwardly, he knew that neither of those were the case.

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Kakashi waited until his team was out of sight. He didn't need them wondering about why he needed to speak to the Hokage in private.

Once they were gone, Kakashi walked back into the office.

Sarutobi looked up. "Did you forget something, Kakashi?" the old man asked. He looked at the jounin over the rims of his glasses, which he had just put on to read some papers.

"No. I need to speak to you in private."

Kakashi shut the door behind him, and sat in the chair in front of the large oak desk.

The Hokage set his glasses on the table and leaned back in his chair. "What do you need to talk about?"

"It's Naruto. He's been acting... strange, given the circumstances."

"He's had a rough life, Kakashi. It can change people. The fourth had wanted Naruto to be remembered as a hero, but that didn't happen. Naruto is going to be a little different."

"It's not that, sir. That might explain why he ran around like a maniac for the entire journey, and why he hardly ever talks. But you recall the fight on the bridge I mentioned in the debriefing?"

Sarutobi nodded.

"Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra to defeat the ninja he encountered. He was himself almost immediately afterward, but I think he might have done more than just kill the nin. The body was a little too torn to have been just the dogs in the short time they were there."

Sarutobi interupted, "That is the nature of the seal, Kakashi. The Kyuubi no kitsune is a vicious creature, and no doubt it attacked the nin, and then the nin's body, until it stopped moving. The seal also lets the Kyuubi occasionally take control if Naruto becomes emotionally disturbed. So it is only natural that the Kyuubi would have come out when Naruto was in mortal danger."

"I see. Maybe that can be explained. But later, in the fight with Gatou's men, I left Naruto to make sure that Sakura wasn't overwhelmed while trying to protect herself and Sasuke. During the fight, I felt no demonic chakra, which is not something that can be concealed, as you and I know. While I was returning to help Naruto, I saw four men running from where I had left Naruto. They took one look at me and jumped over the edge. I found Naruto among over a dozen bodies. Those four were the only survivors of the men that Naruto faced, and that may be only because they ran away. There was never even a hint of demonic chakra, so I can only conclude that Naruto killed all of them himself. He was covered in blood and gore, and did not seem the least disturbed by it, or by the fact that he had just killed more than a dozen men. On the way back, he acted exactly as he had on the way there, running around and occasionally stopping to see where we were on the road."

Sarutobi pulled his pipe out from inside his robe. He lit it with an ornate, silver lighter and took a long draw. After a moment, he expelled the smoke in a long breath.

"This is news indeed," he said. "It probably has something to do with the Kyuubi. I'll look into it. In the meantime, don't act any differently around Naruto. It was not his fault that he was sealed with the demon fox, and if Naruto did kill all those people like you said, anything out of the ordinary could put him over the edge."

"As you command, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi walked out of the office, feeling that nothing had really been resolved.

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Several months later, Kyuubi was making his way towards the Hokage's office for another mission. It seemed that Kakashi had talked to the Hokage, but had not suspected the truth. Kyuubi remembered that the old man had talked to him a few times about how it was okay to let out his emotion from killing for the first time.

After the first two times, it became obvious that the old man was looking for either a reaction or for a reason for the lack of a reaction. Kyuubi had switched with Naruto shortly before the Hokage showed up one time, and Naruto had weaved a tale about how he had lots of dreams about a large monster killing people, and that this happened so often at one point that he no longer was bothered by death or killing.

The old man had bought this, and visited less and less often until he never came anymore.

Kyuubi came inside, out of the morning sun. As was usually the case, Sakura and Sasuke were laready there. Kyuubi sat down to wait for Kakashi, who, of course, was late. He ignored the enraged screams coming from the pink-haired genin about how it was a disgrace to be so late.

Kyuubi thought about recent events. This was their third mission within two weeks. Granted, one was retreiving a cat, but the other one was an escort mission, which had relatively uneventful. The only disturbance had been a drunken man who tried to rob them, but had passed out after threatening them with a shovel.

Kyuubi was finally up to his third set of weights. He was now wearing enough weights that they weighed more than he did. Kyuubi had, at Naruto suggestion, practiced one day a week without them, and had been exceedingly grateful for that hint. The first day he tried it, which had been over a month since he had taken them off for anything besides washing, he had been unable to stand, because he was so unused to it. Kyuubi had repaid Naruto for this favor by listening to Naruto's rant about how there was no point wearing weights if you couldn't fight without them.

Kyuubi awoke from his reverie when he heard Sakura begin screaming at Kakashi for being late. Kakashi made a pathetic excise about how he had been needed to remove a little girl's kitten from a tree, which made Sakura even angrier.

Kyuubi followed them into the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi coughed slightly, gently reminding Sakura that she needed to be quiet. Once everyone was listening, he began. "Team 7, you are to recover a ring stolen from a local noble by a group of bandits. Bring the bandits back alive, if possible, and be sure to get the ring. It's a gold band with alternating jade and emerald stones set in it. The group was last seen about five miles south-southwest of here. Are there any questions?"

When no one answered, Sarutobi continued, " You are to leave tomorrow morning at 8:00. Good luck!"

As team 7 filed out of the office, the Hokage leaned back in his chair. There had been something odd about Naruto's face. Maybe it was the whisker marks, but he felt as if there was something he had missed.

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Kyuubi walked out of the office, relieved that no one had noticed that his genjutsu had been slipping.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	15. The cave

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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At Kakashi's request, Kyuubi was walking with the group on this mission. Although the demon was loath to waste time by walking, Kakashi had a point. The bandits would be more likely to detect them if Kyuubi was running around.

The demon adjusted his mask, which he always wore while training or on missions. With it on, only his eyes were visible, making him effectively invisible on dark nights. Which, of course, was the only time team seven could travel, if they hoped to catch the bandits.

Kyuubi mentally checked his genjutsu. It was still there and functioning properly, so he just added a little more chakra to make it last longer. After the incident on the mission to Wave Country, Kyuubi couldn't be too careful.

Kakashi, walking a pace or two ahead of the genin, raised his hand, signaling them to stop. He looked ahead for a moment, then turned and addressed the young ninja in a soft whisper.

"I'm going ahead to take a look at that cave. I can see some sort of light coming out, and it could be the thugs we've been looking for. You wait here. If I do not return within ten minutes, go back to Konoha. Understand?"

The genin nodded, and Kakashi leapt into a tree and moved stealthily towards the cave.

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Sasuke looked at the black silhouette that sat against a tree just a few feet away. Uzamaki Naruto. Sasuke wondered what went on in the blonde genin's mind. Sasuke remembered, not too many years ago, when Naruto wore his loud orange pants and jacket, and complemented these with a loud attitude and frequent, loud outbursts. Then the boy had changed, his quiet and passive attitude and his expressionless face contrasting sharply with his outfit. Then, for no apparent reason, Naruto had changed again, abandoning the orange outfit for a new, black one.

None of it made sense. Sasuke couldn't see why Naruto would have done any of this. And there was also the radical improvement in the blonde's skills. Sasuke remembered, not even a year ago, when Naruto had been failing every class. But Naruto had passed somehow, and even managed to be helpful during the bell test. And although Kakashi had never said anything more than, "Naruto defended himself well," Sasuke felt that Naruto had done something amazing on the bridge in Wave. Sasuke could see it in the way Kakashi paused before saying that Gatou's men had been 'taken care of.'

Naruto's sudden improvement was not unlike Sasuke's older brother... Sasuke scowled at the thought. _I am an Uchiha. I will be better than Naruto, and avenge my clan._

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Kakashi saw the men inside the cave. Of the four, three were sleeping. The fourth kept watch, sitting on a wooden stool, facing out of the cave, with the smoldering fire behind him casting his shadow far into the forest.

_This will be excellent practice in stealth for my students._ Kakashi looked, and saw that there was a small sack next to each sleeping man. _Perfect._

Kakashi hurried back to his team.

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Sasuke crept silently along the rock wall until he stood near the entrance of the cave, but not in the light cast by the fire. Kakashi had found the bandits hiding in this natural cavern, and had decided that, to test their skill, they would go one at a time, and take a sack from beside one of the sleeping men., without being caught.

The cave was strange in appearance. Only a rock dome stuck out, about 20 feet above ground, with a hole ten foot hole in one side. This hole led into the cave, which, according to Kakashi, appeared to continue far underground. The bandits were at the bottom of the initial slope of the cave, which led to a flatter part about 15 feet underground. That was where the bandits slept.

Sasuke glanced around the corner. The stalactites hanging from the ceiling cast long, thin shadows across the ceiling, which moved back and forth with the flickering of the fire. There had to be a way to get past the guard.

Then Sasuke saw a small boulder inside the cave, sitting near the wall about halfway down the incline. Sasuke crawled commando-style, staying in the shadow of the rock. Once he was there, he looked further down from the small space between the rock and the wall. Sasuke could see the guard.

The guard looked toward he entrance of the cave for a while. Then he started to nod off, his head drooping low. But before Sasuke could emerge from his hiding spot, the man jerked back to attention. This continued several times, until Sasuke could almost feel the rhythm of the man's fatigue.

Once again, the man started to nod off, and Sasuke was ready, while the guard's eyes were half-closed and he was looking down, Sasuke leapt over him and landed just on the other side of the fire. Because he had trained extensively, and because his sandals were covered in cloth, he made almost no noise when he landed. He looked back. The man was gazing intently at the entrance of the cave. Sasuke stepped over one of the sleeping men and grabbed a sack. He lifted it slowly, feeling its weight. He couldn't afford to be given away by the jangle of coins or metal trinkets. He held the sack tightly against his chest with both hands. In this way, he could jump without fear of making noise. When the man was momentarily off guard, Sasuke leaped over him and landed in the shadow of the rock. He quickly dropped to his stomach, clutching the sack underneath himself.

"What was that? Who's there?"

Sasuke froze. He had been found out. But before he stood to run away, he heard the man's voice again.

"Stupid fire. All those flickering shadows are going to drive me insane..."

Sasuke smiled, and inched his way out of the cavern. Once he was outside, he jogged back to Kakashi, handing over the sack.

"Very good, Sasuke. We haven't done much work with stealth, so that was very good. You go next, Naruto."

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Kyuubi crouched silently at the edge of the cave. How on Kami's green earth was he supposed to get one of those sacks? He knew Kakashi would not send genin on missions they were unprepared for. He and Naruto thought for a while. Then they remembered the strange training that Kakashi had made them do after returning from Wave. Sakura hadn't come, as she had done it while Sasuke and Naruto had guarded the bridge.

Tree climbing exercises. Good for chakra control. Kyuubi had integrated that into his training, spending about half his time running up and down trees. But this technique was not limited to trees.

Kyuubi pressed his hand against the stone outside the cave, getting a feel for it, understanding how it was different from a tree. Once he was confident of his knowledge, he climbed the rough rock wall until he was above the entrance of the cave. Then he climbed inside.

Kyuubi snuck along the roof of the cave. There were numerous stalactites, almost making progress difficult. But their flickering shadows made his black shape unnoticeable.

The demon continued along the ceiling, hidden by the protrusions of rock, until he was behind the guard and the fire. He dropped down, grabbed a sack, and put it in one of the front pockets of his black vest. The vest was almost too small for the muscles that Kyuubi had built since purchasing it, so the sack was wedged tightly in the pocket. Then he climbed up the wall, crawled along the ceiling out of the cave, and returned to Kakashi.

Kyuubi handed Kakashi the sack.

"Good work, Naruto. It's your turn, Sakura."

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Sakura stood at the entrance for what seemed like hours. She couldn't think of anything. She was clad in her normal red dress, which was no good for stealth. But this was supposed to be about stealth.

Then it came to her.

She waited until the guard's head started to droop, then threw a kunai straight at his head, handle first. It hit the man, knocking him out. That was planned. What was not planned was the loud clatter the kunai made when it hit the ground.

The sleeping men stirred. Sakura ran as silently as she could, grabbed a sack, and ran out.

"What was that?"

"Hell if I know, I was asleep, and- Hey! What happened to him!"

"There's knife sitting next to him!"

Sakura ran out of earshot, back to Kakashi. She handed him the sack.

"I'm impressed, Sakura. I didn't-"

Kakashi stopped speaking when he saw three men emerge from the cave, weapons drawn. Two had swords, and one had a long knife. They looked around wildly, but team seven had jumped into the trees, and so stayed unseen. The men stared into the woods for a while longer, then went hurried back into the cave, talking in raised voices.

"That will make this a bit more difficult," Kakashi said.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	16. Out of the cave

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kakashi analyzed the situation. The three bandits were armed with swords and knives. The bandits did not appear to have had any ninja training, but that did not make them easy opponents.

The jounin turned to team seven. "Sakura and Sasuke, you will go in there and capture those bandits. You don't have as much experience as Naruto in real combat situations, so this will be a good chance to test your skills. Naruto, you stay near the entrance of the cave. If any of the men try to run, you are to capture them yourself. And if Sasuke or Sakura have too much trouble, go in there and help them."

The genin turned to leave, but before they had gotten very far, Kakashi added, "Do not kill anyone unless it is absolutely necessary."

Sasuke looked at Kakashi strangely. _Why would he think it necessary to tell us that? He shouldn't be worrying about genin killing anyone._ Sasuke scanned his sensei's face for clues, but the jounin's expression was unreadable.

Sakura rolled her eyes. _Kakashi-sensei is so transparent when he tries to compliment our skills._

Kyuubi flinched, but quickly recovered. "Don't worry, sensei," he drawled, trying to sound casual.

Sasuke was mystified by the relieved look he caught on Kakashi's face. It had disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving Sasuke wondering whether he had seen it at all.

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Sasuke lay flat on his belly behind the small boulder he had used earlier, listening to the thieves conversation. Sakura, at Naruto's suggestion, was on the ceiling clinging to the stalactites. Her excellent chakra control made it almost effortless for her.

"I'm telling you, this is the sort of knife that those ninja-types use!"

"Don't be stupid! Any real ninja would have finished the job!"

"That's what I'm saying! We need to leave before they come back to finish us!"

"Look, we can't leave. If that was a real ninja, then we're probably toast anyway. But that knife was probably from some kid playing ninja. Whoever it was hit with the blunt end of the knife, and no real ninja would do that."

"But what if they were just trying to knock him out? I heard that there is reward for our capture, so-"

"Just shut up! I'm not going anywhere, but if you want to leave, fine."

Sasuke couldn't make out any specific words from the man's grumbling, but soon saw from the shadows that the men were seated. They talked in low voices.

Sasuke leapt up from his hiding spot, drawing a kunai. Sakura, seeing his attack, dropped from the ceiling and pulled out a kunai.

"Surrender yourselves," Sasuke commanded, holding his blade out in front of him.

The two men drew their swords, and the third his long, serrated knife. Wordlessly, they attacked.

Sasuke threw his kunai at one of the swordsmen, but the bandit dodged out of the way. The man with the knife followed the first swordsman towards Sasuke. The remaining thief charged at Sakura.

Sasuke rapidly formed several seals, then blew a giant fireball at his assailants. The light cast by the technique lit the entire cave in a blinding yellow light. The men were thrown back, singed, along with the stool and some nearby equipment.

Sakura blocked the swordsman's initial strike with her kunai, and lashed out with a sweeping kick. The man jumped over her leg and swung his sword striaght down, aiming for her head. Sakura moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the sword, and grabbed the man by his shirt. Using all her strength, she threw him into the back wall of the cave, where he landed beside his comrades.

"Surrender," Sasuke repeated. The men ignored him, grabbing their weapons from where they had dropped them and returning to the fight.

Sasuke unleashed another fireball, sending the men flying into the rock wall again.

_I can't do that again,_ Sasuke realized. _Damn my low stamina! I can't beat Itachi like this!_

Not revealing his worry on his face, Sasuke spoke in a calm voice, "This is you last warning."

The men jumped back to their feet, obviously determined to fight to the end. Seeing this, Sasuke drew another kunai and sprinted into their midst. He kicked the knife-wielder in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Sasuke blocked a sword with his much smaller blade, grabbed the sword-blade with his other hand, and pulled. As the man fell forward, Sasuke leapt into the air. The second swordsman, who had been swinging for Sasuke's head, instead hit the first swordsman in the neck, halfway-decapitating him.

Sakura, seeing her chance, kicked the horrified bandit into the recovering knife man. They both fell to the ground, unconscious.

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From outside, Kyuubi could hear the end of the fight. He nodded at Kakashi, who was waiting in the trees. The jounin dropped to the ground and lazily sauntered into the cave. Kyuubi followed behind him.

After tying the men up, Kakashi congratulated Sasuke and Sakura on their success.

"You have improved since our last mission. To beat a hardened bandit without receiving even a scratch is very good for a genin. So if you three will each carry one of them-"

"You lazy bum!" Sakura screeched. "Why don't _you_ carry one of them!"

"Because I will be carrying their things."

Kyuubi sighed as Sakura continued to complain. **_It's bad enough putting up with a mortal body, without having to listen to this female's incessant whining._**

_She has a name, _Naruto commented. _Even if she doesn't seem worthy for you to call by name, it's good practice for talking to others. You'll get a lot of weird looks if you call her 'female' in front of anyone else._

Kyuubi conceded this point as he picked up one of the men and slung him over a shoulder.

"Back to Konoha, then," Kakashi said once everyone was ready.

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Team seven handed the men over to the burly-looking men standing near the client. It had been an uneventful journey back, since they had knocked the bandits on the head any time they stirred, ensuring that there were no escape attempts.

Kakashi said that he would take care of reporting their mission success to the Hokage, and dismissed them.

Kyuubi immediately departed for the training field, to make up for the time he had not been allowed to train while on the mission. Sasuke stuck his hands in his pockets and walked off without a word, leaving Sakura outside the Hokage's office. Sakura waited outside the office to talk to Kakashi about extra training. Although Kakashi had not said anything, Sakura knew that she was weaker than her teamates. She listened to the voices from inside.

"Very good, Kakashi. Now, I think you may be aware that the Chuunin Exams are coming up. Based on their record, I think that you should allow them to enter. It's up to you, of course. You have the best knowledge of their skills."

"That sounds like a good idea, Kokage-sama. I'll ask them what they think about at our next meeting."

Sakura smiled, while Inner Sakura ranted about her awesome skills, and how she would be the best kunoichi in the Exams.

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End of chapter. Please review!


	17. The chuunin exam begins

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! On that note, I am sometimes unsure whether some of you who reviewed wanted replies to your reviews. If you want me to respond, just say so at the end of your review, and I will answer questions or comment or give random advice or something. I have also received many comments on the brevity of my chapters, so I will try to make them longer, but no promises on how much longer. I am so lazy... Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kyuubi arrived at team seven's usual meeting place late in the afternoon. Although he was an hour late, he wasn't worried, since Kakashi was always later. Ignoring Sakura's screaming, he sat down and leaned back against one of the log posts in the clearing.

Sasuke stood over near the edge of the trees, hands in his pockets, reasting against a tree. His bangs hung over his face, partially obscuring his eyes from view. He wore the same white shorts, blue sandals, and Uchiha shirt that he must have worn since the dawn of time. He stared at Kyuubi, his eyes slightly narrowed, as the black-clad ninja sat down.

Kyuubi felt the genjutsu over his eyes. It felt normal. He reviewed his clothing. It was the same black outfit that he had been wearing for a while now. His black cloth mask hung around his neck, unneeded for the moment. **_What is the Uchiha staring at?_**

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Sasuke looked at Naruto. That boy was full of surprises. The kid who had once shouted about being Hokage had become increasingly quiet in recent times, and now hardly ever spoke a word. One day, seemingly on a whim, Naruto had changed from his garish orange outfit to an all-black one. He had also become a much better ninja. Sasuke remembered Naruto's abysmal grades, and the rather impressive number of times that the blonde had failed to pass the final Academy exam.

Then one year, he went from a klutz in strange clothing, to someone who acted like a ninja and dressed like an assassin. Sasuke frowned. Something had changed. Although Sasuke had heard of Iruka's death, it seemed like that was the sort of experience that would break someone, rather than one that would propel them into action.

And then, just yesterday, he had been wandering absently through the streets of Konoha, when he had overheard Kakashi and another jounin talking in a nearby alley. Sasuke remembered the conversation well...

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Flashback:

Kakashi slouched against the wall. Asuma stood patiently in front of him, waiting for Kakashi to say whatever he had brought him here for.

"It's Naruto," Kakashi finally said. "He's changed a lot recently, and I'm worried about what he might do."

Asuma sensed that there was more, and said nothing.

"Naruto has become very quiet lately," Kakashi almost whispered. "He changed his outfit, too. It's not at all like he used to be. And on our mission to Wave country..."

"What happened?"

"He had to fight a ninja, at least jounin level. Naruto killed him while under the Kyuubi's influence. That was perhaps to be expected, but then he killed over a dozen people on his own immediately afterward. He was so unfazed by it that I felt compelled to tell him, on our last mission, that he was not to kill anyone. Our mission was to capture some men, and it went without saying that they weren't to be killed, but Naruto was so... cold about that mission to Wave that I felt I had to tell him that. I said it to all the team so they wouldn't be suspicious, but..."

"You're worried that he might do something?" Asuma finished.

"Yes. I don't know what he would possibly do, and he only killed enemies, but I think that, under certain circumstances, kill someone else. Not just an enemy. He doesn't even look the same since I remember hi from before. His eyes are darker, more blank."

Asuma sighed. After a moment of thought, he spoke. "I assume that you have talked to the Hokage about this?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Then keep an eye on him, and follow the Hokage's instructions. I agree that he could be provoked into killing someone, or at least seriously injuring them, but since he hasn't shown any aggressive behavior towards his team, I wouldn't worry too much."

The two jounin continued to talk, so intent on their conversation that they did not notice Uchiha Sasuke slowly walk away.

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Sasuke furrowed his brow. What could have motivated Naruto to kill ordinary thugs? And how could he be influenced by a demon that was killed years ago by the Fourth Hokage?

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Kakashi sauntered into the clearing, reading his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. As he came closer to his students, he returned the book to its place in his pouch.

Sakura was fuming silently at his tardiness, standing behind the posts in the middle of the field. Sasuke walked over from his tree, and Kyuubi looked up from his place on the ground.

"Sorry I'm late. For real, this time," he said, seeing Sakura's furious glare. " I had to get these forms for you guys. The chuunin exams are coming in a month, and I think you three are capable enough to compete. If you want to enter, all you have to do is sign these forms and turn them in to the Hokage. You already have my permission. If you don't want to enter, that's fine. People have died in the Exams, and there is no reason to risk your life if you don't feel that you're ready."

Sasuke smirked. Of course he was ready. How could he ever expect to kill his brother if he couldn't even pass the Chuunin Exams? He took a form from Kakashi.

Sakura squealed in delight. Although she had already known about this, it was still exciting when it actually happened. She took one of the forms.

Kyuubi paused a moment before taking the last sheet of paper.

"I think you all will do well," Kakashi said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

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Naruto ran along the worn path in what he now called 'his' training field. Every so often, Naruto would spend a day in the body, making sure that he could still use it. A half-moon shone in what was otherwise a dark night. The first part of the exam started tomorrow. Some sort of written test. Neither Naruto nor Kyuubi were too worried, since Kyuubi had been paying attention in class, even if Naruto hadn't.

Naruto stumbled on a rock, but quickly recovered, and kept running. He and Kyuubi had decided to use the fourth set of weights in the past month to be prepared for the exam. It was working, but it was more difficult to run.

_**That's the point, kit.**_

Naruto smiled at Kyuubi's name for him. After enough complaining, the demon had agreed to stop addressing him as 'mortal'. It was an improvement.

Naruto flung a handful of kunai at a tree. Although his aim was lacking, all of his training enabled the kunai that did hit to embed themselves totally into the tree, with only the end of the handle showing.

Naruto licked his lips, tasting the blood from his meal earlier in the night. His speed training allowed him to easily catch a deer, provided he removed a few weights. This particular deer had been fairly young, and had been a rather nice meal. It was rare for deer to venture into this part of the forest anymore, since he and Kyuubi preferred them over any other meat. Taking after Kyuubi's example, Naruto had eaten the deer raw.

It was another way that Naruto found himself emulating the demon. After so much time spent talking, he and Kyuubi were becoming more alike. Kyuubi now had a general sense of what was 'normal' for humans, and had gained an appreciation for the difficulty humans had in becoming strong. Naruto found himself preferring to eat meat, to the point that he hardly ever ate anything else. He also saw how much easier it really was to kill than to knock someone out, and had developed a tendency to look down on other people, and to refer to them as 'mortals'.

Naruto touched the tree's worn trunk, then sprinted the other way. He still had a few hours before they needed to be at the examination.

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Kyuubi walked into the room, and sat down in his assigned seat in the third row, number 25. He saw that Sakura and Sasuke were already here, seated closer to the front. Looking around, the demon glanced at the people in the room.

Then Kyuubi saw him. The signs were unmistakable. The black rings around the eyes, the sandy gourd, the slight aura of killing intent. **_The Shukaku host._**

This was going to be an interesting exam.

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Kyuubi slowly left the room. After listening to the rules of the exam and seeing the difficulty of the problems, he had realized the true nature of the test. The person to his right was one of the chuunin with the answers, who did not even try to hide his answers.

Because he knew the examiners were looking, Kyuubi let Naruto look at the answers from his perch in his mind. Because of where he was, Naruto could, with some difficulty, focus on a point that was in Kyuubi's peripheral vision. So Kyuubi got all of the answers from Naruto, and never had to look up.

When the tenth question was posed, Kyuubi stayed in the room silently. **_This is so easy._**

After more than half of the ninjas had left, the chief examiner had congratulated them on passing. Then the strange woman, Anko, who had crashed through the window, told them to meet at the Forest of Death tomorrow for the second part of the Exam. Kyuubi chuckled at the ominous name.

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The next morning, Kyuubi waited as Anko explained the rules of the test. Kyuubi stood near the back of the crowd of genin, waiting for the exam to start. Naruto was listening, and so Kyuubi just waited impatiently for the end of the rules.

Once Anko had finished, team seven received their earth scroll and jogged to gate 17.

"Who should carry the scroll?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shrugged, so Kyuubi took the scroll from her hands and put it in one of his concealed pockets.

Sakura looked miffed, but didn't say anything.

Then the signal came, the gate opened, and the second phase of the Exam began.

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End of chapter. Yes, this is longer than usual. I measured. Please review, and don't forget to mention if you want a reply!


	18. The Forest of Death: Part I

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! Yes, I know the written exam thing was short, but it's boring enough as an anime without listening to some long-winded written description of it. That, and I'm too lazy to write said description. The Forest of Death will be much longer, I promise! Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Kakashi walked slowly around the edge of the Forest of Death, hands in pockets. Although it was not obvious, he was worried about his students. He was not reading his book, and glanced into the forest every so often. Occasionally he would stop and sigh.

_I hope Sasuke is careful in there. Naruto hasn't done anything yet, but there is not telling what sort of other effects the demon could have on him. Sasuke is smart enough to have figured out what happened on the bridge, if only because I talked about it in public to Asuma. I thought I felt his presence, but then, I wasn't paying a lot of attention._

Kakashi looked into the forest again, but the dense forest prevented him from seeing any further than a few yards in.

_Stay safe, Sasuke._

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Kyuubi followed Sakura and Sasuke, leaping from tree to tree. He readjusted his cloth mask, which had started to slip down. Kyuubi tightened the knot.

Team seven had been wandering somewhat aimlessly through the Forest for the better part of half an hour. They needed to find a team with a heaven scroll, but so far they had not found any other teams.

Sasuke stopped on a large branch 50 feet from the ground. Sakura and Kyuubi landed on either side of him. Kyuubi sniffed the air. Another team was nearby.

Sasuke spoke. "There is a team just ahead. Sakura, you go around that side," he pointed to their left, "Naruto, you go around that side," he pointed to the right. "I'll go check out this near side. See if you can find out what scroll they have. If you see a heaven scroll. come and tell me, and we can plan an attack. If you see an earth scroll, come back and we'll leave. There's no point in unnecessary fighting."

Sakura and Kyuubi nodded, and jumped towards the indicated positions. Sasuke crept closer to the other team. Looking around some branches, he saw three sound-nin. The one walking in the middle was a girl. She had long black hair that reached to just past her shoulders. She wore a grey vest and black pants. On her left was a boy, who had short, messy black hair, and wore a tan jacket and black pants. Not much was visible about the guy on her right, whose entire body appeared to be covered in bandages, over which he wore a thick grey coat and thick black pants. The bandages left just enough of a space over the guy's face to allow him to see.

Sasuke looked carefully, trying to see where they might have hidden their scroll. After a moment, he saw a slight bulge on the right side of the bandaged boy's coat. _Maybe Naruto will be able to see it better._

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Kyuubi looked at the strange group through the leaves. Thankfully, the leaves were thick enough that they blocked most of the sunlight today, allowing Kyuubi to use his black uniform to better effect.

He saw a small bulge on the near side of the coat the mysterious boy was wearing. He crept along the large branch he was perched on, keeping pace with the group of sound-nins. Kyuubi couldn't see into the pocket with the bulge, because the boy's hands were in the way.

Suddenly, Kyuubi froze when he heard a loud _snap_ from the other side of the group. The sound-nin stopped in their tracks and pulled out kunai. Kyuubi looked down, and saw that the bandaged boy had moved his arm out of the way. The sound-nin had a heaven scroll.

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Sasuke silently cursed. _How could Sakura be so stupid?_ He dropped silently to the ground and crept as close as he dared to the enemy-nin, hiding behind a large tree trunk.

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Sakura did not dare to breath. She had not seen the dead twig sticking out of the branch she had been standing on, and when she had moved to get a better view, she had stepped on it, breaking it with a horribly loud _snap_.

Sakura pressed herself against the tree, and prayed that the sound-nin would not come to investigate.

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"I'll go investigate," said Kin, the black-haired girl.

Dosu nodded, his stern expression somehow visible despite the amount of bandages obscuring his face.

Kin leaped into a tree, and looked around. The sound had come from somewhere around here.

Dosu suddenly felt a presence, and spun around to block a kick from a short ninja dressed in all black. The dark ninja punched at Dosu, who leaned back to dodge, then jumped back and flipped over Zaku.

Zaku held his arm extended toward the dark ninja, palms out. The strange red gem in the center of his palm glowed briefly. Then a vicious whirlwind sprang out, knocking the black-garbed ninja back into a tree, where he vanished in a puff of smoke.

A dozen more identical ninja dropped from the trees. Zaku and Dosu stood back-to-back in the clearing, prepared for anything.

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Sasuke saw the first clone attack and get annihilated. When he saw a dozen others begin to attack, he assumed that Naruto had things under comtrol, he went to Sakura's aid. Not that he cared so much for her, but for him to pass required that all of his team make it out.

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Sakura could hear the sound girl land on a branch on the other side of the same tree she was on. Then she heard a loud noise, like a huge gust of wind. _What on earth was that?_ Sakura peeked around the tree, and saw the other girl distracted by what appeared to be several Naruto clones' attack on her teammates. _This could be my only opportunity!_

Sakura threw a kunai straight at the back of the girl's head. It sank deep into the girl's skull.

But then a poof of ninja smoke revealed a kunai embedded in a log.

Sakura gasped, and turned around in what seemed to be slow motion. The sound girl smirked evilly as she threw her kunai at the surprised pink-haired kunoichi.

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Kin smirked as she threw her weapon at the hopelessly surprised girl. _What a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi._

Her smirk froze awkwardly on her face, however, when another kunai came from behind her and deflected her kunai. She turned around, experiencing the same feeling of slow motion that Sakura had not seconds before. She saw the bottom of a blue sandal, and a pair of fierce red eyes with strange comma markings in them, right before she saw nothing at all.

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Sauke landed on the branch next to Sakura. He heard the sickening _thud_ of the sound kunoichi landing on the ground. If she were lucky, she would only have a few cracked ribs.

"You alright?" he asked Sakura gruffly.

"I- I think so, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke grunted, then leapt to help Naruto with the remaining two sound-ninja.

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Naruto frowned as he leaned against the trunk of a large tree. The two sound-nin were rather effective at destroying his shadow clones. The one with the gems in his palms could shred clones at a distance, and the one with the bandages did something that took care of any clones that made it too close.

_**It's a good thing we've been doing all that training. I can send these clones all day. With any luck, their techniques require chakra, and they will eventually run out.**_

Kyuubi formed a hand seal and created another dozen clones. The clones ran into positions in the trees, and flung their kunai at the two sound-nin. As with every time before, the more normal of the two sound-nin sent a scathing wind that dissipated the cloned kunai. The clones attacked. Three were caught in the second whirlwind unleashed by the ninja, while the others mysteriously poofed out of existence when they neared the other ninja.

Before Kyuubi created another set of clones, he heard the familiar sound of a strong wind, which sounded like it had been directed at the other side of the clearing. Looking around the huge trunk of the tree, Kyuubi saw Sasuke dodging out of the way of the dangerous vortex.

Kyuubi formed the familiar hand seal, and created two dozen clones. Then he and his clones attacked.

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Zaku shot another blast of air at the raven-haired leaf-nin. There was no way he was letting that punk get away. He noticed another horde of darkly dressed ninja fling their kunai at him. He turned, blew them away, and returned to firing at the leaf-nin. But where had he gone?

Dosu groaned as another, larger wave of ninja launched themselves in attack. He concentrated, and released his overpowering waves of sound. The clones dissipated as they reached the edge of his attack. But suddenly one broke through the smoke, seemingly unnaffected by the sound waves, and punched Dosu into Zaku's back. The two fell to the ground in a heap.

Dosu looked up to see a giant fireball flying straight at him. And with Zaku trapped underneath him, there was nothing he could do about it.

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Kyuubi leapt away as Sasuke's Grand Fireball struck the two stunned ninja, exploding in an impressive show of light and heat.

Kyuubi walked over to the unconscious ninja, and took the scroll from the charred coat pocket of the smoldering, bandaged sound-nin. He stuck the heaven scroll into the pocket where the original earth scroll was.

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Sasuke walked over and surveyed the scene. Every tree in the clearing had lost all of their branches, excepting the ones that were unable to be seen from the clearing. It then occured to Sasuke that there hadn't been a clearing here before. _How long did Naruto dodge those blasts? He couldn't have so much chakra to be able to use clones that whole time, could he?_

He looked over at Naruto, and saw the completely unruffled black outfit. It did not even have wrinkles you would expect after running around, nor was it damp with perspiration.

_What kind of ninja is Naruto?_

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End of chapter. Please review!


	19. The Forest of Death: Part II

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... If I don't hear any good remarks on the length of this chapter, I'm going to go back to the old length. I'm not going to spend extra time writing this if no one's going to appreciate it. Rant over. Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Team seven hurried toward the center of the forest. Now that they had the second scroll, they simply needed to reach the tower before time expired in three days. With any luck, they would arrive early tomorrow.

Sakura was tired beyond belief. She had almost no energy left from the constant running they were doing, but she refused to complain. Although they didn't say anything, she could sense the two boys' annoyance with her paltry abilities as a ninja.

Sasuke continued at the same quick pace that they had been moving at for some time now. _We need to get to the tower before the desperate groups at the end of the exam stake it out to take scrolls._ Although Sasuke was feeling a little fatigued, he had no intention of stopping. He glanced at the forest floor far below them, checking for any other groups. Seeing none, he relaxed a bit. By running through the trees several hundred feet above the ground, they seemed to be missing all of the other teams. Sasuke wondered when Naruto had gotten smart enough to make such a suggestion.

Kyuubi followed behind, keeping alert with his enhanced senses. He wasn't tired at all. Team seven was moving at just less then half of the speed he ran with in training; he could keep this up all day. The only thing that bothered him was the strange smell of death that he occasionally picked up. Since killing was permitted in the exam, the smell of death was perhaps to be expected, but every time Kyuubi sensed it, the odor was stronger, indicating that the source was nearer. Kyuubi wondered if a different team was carrying a dead body with them, perhaps in hopes that bringing it would allow them to pass despite a slain teammate.

But the strength of the smell meant that the source was close, too close for Kyuubi not to notice. **_Were they being followed by a jounin? Why would a jounin be carrying a dead body?_**

Suddenly the smell became much stronger. Kyuubi looked to the side, and gazed upon the strangest sight he had ever seen. A head attached to a horribly elongated neck was moving toward Sasuke at great speed. The black hair waved in the breeze of its own movement, but the things that caught Kyuubi's attention were the pale, ashen skin, and the yellow, slitted eyes.

Kyuubi threw a kunai at it, but the head dodged to the side and kept coming. The kunai hit a tree, causing Sasuke and Sakura to look back. Sakura shrieked. Sasuke immediately formed several seals in rapid succession and launched a large fireball at the head.

The head pulled back and dodged to the side, but another fireball forced it to retreat. Team seven stopped and listened for any sign of the attacker. Sasuke put his ear to a tree. All that could be heard were the sounds of a forest.

But just before they could move on, a man dropped from the canopy of trees, landing on a branch several yards in front of them. He wore a tan shirt with a purple rope tied around it at the waist, purple pants, black shoes, and a large straw hat that he wore tilted forward, covering his face.

"Who are you?" Sasuke yelled. The man pulled back his hat, revealing the head that they had seen just seconds before. The man fixed them with an intense glare, his eyes wide and his mouth stretched in a maniacal grin. The yellow eyes seemed to emit a pulse with an evil energy.

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Kyuubi looked at the odd man, who still stood there grinning. **_What on earth is wrong with him? Why is he grinning like that?_** Kyuubi formed a seal and created a dozen shadow clones. The man immediately looked directly at him, with something akin to confusion in his eyes.

The clones attacked, leaping at the man with kunai drawn. But the man slithered away from every stab, and avoided every slash with a serpentine grace. Suddenly his tongue shot out of his mouth, grabbed a clone, and used it as a club to crush several others into a tree. The clones dissipated in a cloud of smoke. The man then wielded his tongue like a whip, and a few violent _crack_'s signaled the demise of the remaining clones.

Kyuubi looked over at Sasuke and Sakura. They were still in the same positions as before, with expressions of mortal fear on their faces.

Distracted, Kyuubi was kicked into a tree trunk by the oddly dressed man. As he fell, Kyuubi created two dozen clones. He and the clones caught on to branches as they fell, and came back to attack, using every bit of their speed and strength.

The man was good. No, he was very good. But he couldn't help but receive a few nicks here and there as a dozen clones closed in for close combat and another dozen flung kunai from a distance.

The oddly dressed ninja no longer smiled. His face was contorted in anger. His eyes shone with a fierce, sickly light. He suddenly drew a kunai and destroyed every clone within several feet of him in a blur of steel and smoke. The smoke hid the man for a moment. Then kunai shot out of the cloud and impaled every clone, instantly removing them from the fight. Kyuubi himself narrowly avoided a kunai.

The man turned to face Kyuubi. The demon looked into those yellow eyes, and, perhaps these mortal senses were deceiving him, but again, he thought he felt a pulse of energy come out of those slitted pupils. But there did not seem to be any effect from it, so Kyuubi sprang into action. Jumping from his perch on a branch, he made 50 clones, and he and all of his copies threw their kunai at the man.

The pale ninja dodged in an eerily flexible way, like he didn't have a bone in his body, and avoided almost every blade thrown at him. A single kunai lodged itself in his right calf. Suddenly it became apparent that this ninja had been toying with Kyuubi up 'till now. In a second, he threw hundreds of kunai, whether real or cloned, in every direction around him. Clones vanished in puffs of smoke.

Kyuubi, who was still in mid-air after jumping to attack, twisted in the air to dodge the knives, and used his weights to block what he could not dodge. The blocked kunai fell away with muffled _clang_'s.

Kyuubi landed heavily on a branch, and turned to face his opponent. To Kyuubi's chagrin, the ashen-skinned ninja was already upon him. Kyuubi flew into a tree after a powerful kick, and fell onto a branch. He slowly got up, and looked at the strange ninja.

Kyuubi saw the pale ninja form several seals, bite his thumb, and wipe the blood onto his arm. Before Kyuubi could do anything, a giant snake appeared just in front of the strange man, its head even with the branch the man was standing on. The man stepped onto the snake's head, and smirked at Kyuubi.

"You obviously have no idea with whom you are dealing. I am Orochimaru, one of the legendary sannin. No genin could ever hope to defeat me, even if they are ready for promotion. Now, I am a nice man, and I did not come here for you. So if you wish to live, I suggest you move aside and let me... talk... with Sasuke-kun."

Kyuubi thought for a moment, then dropped his fighting stance. **_This Orochimaru is way out of my league._**

Kyuubi watched disinterestedly as Orochimaru walked over to Sasuke and bit his neck. This startled Sasuke out of his stupor, but something about the bite knocked seemed to knock him back out. Orochimaru grabbed Sasuke before he could fall off of the branch, and set him onto the branch in a balanced position.

Sakura suddenly flinched, and jumped to her feet. She turned and looked at Orochimaru, and moved to draw a kunai, but before she could complete the action, the snake-nin karate-chopped her in the neck without even looking. Sakura fell unconscious to the ground several hundred feet below.

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Naruto had been watching the fight with interest from within his own mind. But he was troubled by Kyuubi's sudden surrender. Naruto thought to himself, _I know that Orochimaru is strong, but it's... wrong to just abandon Sasuke like that. But we do what we must to survive._

Naruto watched as Orochimaru bit Sasuke, and then as he knocked Sakura unconscious in one blow._ Kyuubi! We need to do something about this! He just took out our team!_

**_No,_** Kyuubi replied. **_We need to survive, and this guy is strong. If I don't have to fight him, I won't._**

_Kyuubi, you saw what he just did! What if he comes for us later! You barely caught him the first time, and if he comes again, you might not see him in time!_

Kyuubi was about to speak, but he was cut off by Orochimaru.

"Now then, you didn't really think that I'd let you live after you put me through all that trouble, did you?"

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Kyuubi dodged the giant snake as it tried to eat him, and was caught by Orochimaru with a strong kick. The demon flew into a large tree, leaving a dent in the trunk after he fell onto the branch below. Kyuubi couldn't keep up with Orochimaru if things stayed like they were now.

But they didn't stay like that. The next time that Orochimaru jumped toward him, Kyuubi spun around quickly and released his weights, flinging them at Orochimaru or right around him. The sannin blocked a forearm weight and a calf weight, and dodged all of the others, except for the second forearm weight, which struck him in his right calf.

The heavy weight, aided by the kunai lodged in the leg from before, snapped Orochimaru's leg-bones in half, rendering his right leg all but useless. The weight also caused Orochimaru to spin in the air as he flew, prohibiting him from doing anything until he landed. Kyuubi used this to his advantage, and punched the snake-nin with all of his weight-enhanced strength.

Orochimaru flew towards another tree, but caught onto a branch before he hit the trunk.

The snake summon chose this time to attack, sending Kyuubi dodging the furious strike that left fang-marks in the tree that was unfortunate enough to get in the way.

Orochimaru used this time to get onto the branch he had grabbed, and set his leg with a branch. He tested it out while Kyuubi fought the snake.

The snake charged at Kyuubi yet again. The demon dodged to the right, raking a kunai across the snake's side as it passed. The snake reared up in pain, and struck down on Kyuubi. The black-clad boy jumped to the left, flinging a kunai at the snake as he left the tree.

The blade pierced the snake's eye and lodged itself in the brain. The enormous snake writhed in agony, crashing into trees for a few seconds before it disappeared in a cloud of ninja-smoke.

Orochimaru leapt silently into the air, kunai drawn, toward Kyuubi, who had just landed on a large branch just out of reach of the snake's death throes. Kyuubi assumed that Orochimaru was still tending his leg, and so was unaware of the snake-nin's presence until a kunai was stabbed into his back.

Kyuubi screamed in pain, falling off the branch onto another below. Orochimaru dropped onto the branch, and looked at the dark ninja that was curled against the trunk of the tree in the fetal position. _Pathetic. Is this what I was fighting?_

Kyuubi turned and looked at the snake-nin, who was framed from behind by a giant, ancient tree. The demon realized that he was outmatched. **_I'm going to die... WHAT! I CANNOT DIE! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!_**

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The tree stood almost a thousand feet high, with hundreds of larger branches, and thousands of smaller ones. It had sprung from a seed long before the founding of Konoha. It's proud trunk grew straight up, without a single bend and without any scars of missing branches. It had been growing for over two hundred years. In fact, it kept growing until the second part of a certain chuunin exam.

The giant ball of fiery demonic chakra smashed Orochimaru against the tree, completely annihilating that part of the trunk in a blaze of destruction. Splinters and chunks of wood flew everywhere, embedding themselves in nearby trees, or flying far out into the forest.

The upper part of the tree, no longer anchored to the ground, flipped over with the force of the blast, then fell into the forest, partly on fire.

Kyuubi's genjutsu had vanished, revealing his blood-red eyes that shone with an inner fury. His body was covered in demonic chakra, in a shape that resembled nothing so much as a humanoid fox, complete with large, fearsome claws. Four large, orange tails of chakra writhed behind him.

And then Kyuubi's image flickered, and was gone.

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Orochimaru had left before the Kyuubi had arrived at Konoha. He had never felt particularly grateful for having missed that event until now.

Orochimaru screamed in pain, his false skin burning and flaking off in the intense heat. His scream was momentarily interrupted when he struck that ancient tree, before the force of his body and the power behind that monstrous sphere of demonic chakra obliterated the tree and propelled him onward.

But before he could strike a second tree, he saw a pair of angry, red eyes with slitted pupils. Kyuubi suddenly appeared in front of him, right hand (or was it a paw?) uplifted, with long claws extended. Kyuubi slashed Orochimaru across the face, leaving long, scorched claw marks from the top left of Orochimaru's forehead to the bottom right of his face. AN: Those right/left directions were from Orochimaru's perspective, if anyone cares

Orochimaru didn't have time for the pain of that injury to register before Kyuubi slashed with his left hand across the snake-nin's stomach. Shreds of tan cloth flew from the slash, and the pale ninja was propelled back into a tree trunk.

Orochimaru quickly stood up on his good leg, holding one hand behind him. One by one, the fingers of that hand were capped with a small tongue of purple chakra. The snake-nin waited for the demonic genin to attack.

He didn't have to wait long. Kyuubi jumped just off of his branch, and then pushed off of the tree trunk. He flew directly at the ashen-skinned ninja, right hand held back.

Orochimaru smirked. But before the he could attack, the demon flung his right hand forward, firing a smaller sphere of fiery chakra. Orochimaru dodged to Kyuubi's left and slammed his five chakra-covered fingertips just off-center into the demon's stomach.

Kyuubi flew past that tree and crashed into a branch. The demon had barely had time to grab onto the branch before he had begun to fall. **_Why couldn't I grab it with my other hand?_** Then, when Kyuubi tried to move his other hand, he discovered why. The left side of his body was paralyzed.

_**What's going on!**_

_Kyuubi!_ Naruto called from within his/their mind. _Something's wrong! Half of that chair is covered with weird purple seals, and it sort of repels your chakra. Can you move your left side at all?_

_**No.**_

_Then I'll control this half. I think if I sit just on this half, I can just control the left side of the body._

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Orochimaru smirked. Now that that was taken care of, he could move on to more important. The snake-nin looked back at the branch the boy had hit.

_What on earth?_

Orochimaru moved to the side just in time to avoid a third slash from the demon's orange claws. Kyuubi landed on a branch, and turned around, revealing a figure, that, if it was possible, was even more intimidating than before. The right side of Naruto's body was covered in the same fiery chakra, while the other was completely normal. The boy's eerie gaze, with one red eye and one blue eye, would give most people the creeps.

Orochimaru was not most people. He was intrigued at the strange failure of the Five-season Seal. _It seems that I did not strike the middle of his stomach. Having to dodge to the side threw my aim off by just a hair, but that was apparently far enough off to cause the seal to lose much of its effect._

Naruto awkwardly drew a kunai from the pouch on the opposing leg. He and Kyuubi slowly tried to adjust to this new way of moving.

Orochimaru looked at the strange sight of the half-empowered boy. _It was only by luck that he managed to break my leg, and it was only that which prevented me from killing him. Oh well, I've spent too much time playing here. I think I'll leave before I have to entertain Konoha's ANBU as well._

Orochimaru turned to leave.

"**A**n**d **w**h**e**r**e **d**o **y**o**u **t**h**i**n**k **y**o**u'**r**e **g**o**i**n**g" Naruto/Kyuubi shouted in a voice that sounded like two people speaking at once, one voice a deep growl, the other a cold, high voice.

Orochimaru looked back at the demon/boy. "I'm done playing with you. I have... other things to do."

Kyuubi roared and charged at Orochimaru. But when he slashed across the snake-nin's retreating back, the pale ninja's form dissolved into mud. Orochimaru had already left.

Kyuubi growled in frustration, then fell unconscious to the ground below, having pushed this frail human body to the limits of its tolerance to demonic chakra.

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Kyuubi scowled from within his cage. What had that pale freak done to them? What sort of technique could keep him from manifesting his chakra?

Naruto had already told him that the seal only seemed to affect demonic chakra. Naruto walked up and touched the chair, and moved his hands over the seal, but couldn't feel anything. It looked like Naruto was going to have to take the body for a long time.

_Hey, don't be so unhappy. We might be able to get the seal removed by someone in Konoha?_

_**Think, Naruto! What would someone say if you walked up and asked them to remove a seal so that you could use demonic chakra again? Anyone who would know how to remove the seal would already know about me? Who on earth would intentionally allow my chakra better access to your body?**_

Miles away, just outside a women's bathhouse, Jiraiya sneezed.

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Sakura woke up with a start. Where was that strange ninja? Sudden pain from new bruises told her that she must have fallen to the ground after that ninja struck her.

She jumped up and looked around. She didn't see him. There was nothing but the darkness of night, broken only by the soft glow of the moon. Sakura relaxed, but then stiffened as she realized that she did not know where her team was, either. Then she saw a blue sandaled foot sticking out from a bush. Rushing over, she almost cried when she saw Sasuke lying unconscious. But once she had gotten there, she could also see around a large tree, and thus she noticed something else.

The Forest of Death was on fire.

Flames from the most ancient of trees had spread to others, and now the forest was beginning to catch on fire. Sakura shook Sasuke, trying to wake him up. Sasuke murmured in his sleep, but nothing more. Then Sakura saw Naruto laying another few yards away. She ran over and shook him.

"Wake up Naruto! We need to get out of here!"

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Naruto opened his eyes, then groaned as a wave of pain hit him. Half of his body no longer had the phenomenal healing rate that he was used to having.

"Come on, Naruto! You need to carry Sasuke-kun, and we need to get out of here before the fire spreads!"

_Fire? Oh... Kyuubi._

_**Don't blame me, that snake freak started the fight.**_

_Kyuubi, that sounded... childish._

_**Don't lecture me, kit!**_

_That's better._

Naruto got up, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in the entire left side of his body. He hurried around the area, picking up his weights and replacing them into their proper positions, then walked over and picked Sasuke, slinging the boy over his good shoulder. With his left hand, Naruto readjusted his mask, which was almost in tatters after the fight. Kyuubi's fiery aura hadn't helped, either.

Naruto followed behind Sakura as she navigated her way to the tower, using the stars to find her way.

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Not long after, Sakura had a most unpleasant surprise. She and Naruto had been running along the ground to save energy, and had hoped that they would not run into anyone. But this was not to be.

Suddenly, they entered a clearing, where another team was sitting around a fire. Sakura and Naruto stopped dead in their tracks. The other team looked their way.

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Gaara looked at the leaf-nin that had just come into the clearing. _We already have both scrolls, so fighting is pointless._

_**Kill them anyway! Kill them! Drink their blood!**_

Gaara ignored the voice in the back of his head, and kept his stoic gaze directed at the pale, pink-haired ninja and the disheveled, battered boy dressed in black.

Temari looked up at the newcomers. _What kind of ninja are they, if they aren't paying enough attention to notice our fire before they stumble into the clearing?_

Kankurou glanced at the leaf-nin, then looked back at the fire. "Oi, who do you think you are, barging into our campsite like that? You're lucky we already have both scrolls, or you'd be in a lot of trouble right now."

The pink-haired genin smiled nervously. "Sorry to bother you. We'll be leaving now."

"No."

Everyone looked at the small, red-haired boy who had just spoken up.

_**Look at the pretty moon. It will make such a good background for a little slaughter. Kill them!**_

_Not yet._

_**Just one, then. Kill that stupid girl! Make her scream! Cover the grass in her blood!**_

Gaara tuned out the voice. "What are you running from?"

Sakura paused, but decided that she could answer that. "We ran into a strange guy with pale skin and yellow eyes. He looked at us, and then all of the sudden, I felt like I was dying, over and over. When I woke up, we were all on the ground, and it was night."

Gaara's mouth moved slightly, forming a bit of a frown. Obviously, these two hadn't seen the demon whose energy he had felt. Sand leaked out of his gourd.

Naruto saw the expressions that the other two sand-nin wore when they saw the sand coming out of the gourd, and grabbed Sakura's arm, pulling her back the way they had come.

Sand poured out of the gourd even faster.

Naruto formed a seal, and created thirty clones. Many of these henged, and soon copies of Naruto and Sakura were running around the clearing, with one or two occasionally disappearing in a puff of smoke as Gaara's sand caught up to them.

Naruto and Sakura ran towards the tower, glad to have gotten out of that situation, when the same strange redhead appeared in front of them, materializing out of sand that had sprung up from the ground.

Naruto gave Sasuke limp body to Sakura. Sasuke occasionally groaned, and a small wisp of purple chakra would come from the mark on his neck. Sakura hefted the raven-haired boy to her shoulders, then jumped back into a tree, hoping that Naruto would get them through this.

Gaara looked at the dark boy. Obviously, he had no idea who he was dealing with if he was foolish enough to stop running from Sabaku no Gaara.

Naruto dropped into a fighting stance. He was tired, and would have to take his weights off again if this fight was going to last very long. Thanks to Kyuubi, however, the right side of his body was in perfect condition, lessening the effects from his last battle. The left side of his body was the worse for wear, but would hold up.

Suddenly sand shot out from Gaara towards Naruto. The leaf-nin dodged to the side and rushed at the boy who looked at him with such a cold expression. His punch, however, was blocked by a wall of sand that sprang up just before he could make contact.

Naruto punched and kicked and stabbed, but every attack was deflected by a new wall of sand that would appear, take the hit, and dissipate.

Gaara was getting tired of this. He flung sand in every direction, sending the dark ninja back several yards. Then the sand made it way as a huge wave toward the unfortunate leaf-nin.

_Goodbye, ninja of Konoha,_ Gaara thought.

_**Finally! Make his blood splatter on the trees! I want to smell his blood!**_

But Gaara was surprised and alarmed when he saw the wall of sand pierced by several small, flaming objects. _What!_

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Naruto saw the wall, and could think of only one way to get out of this situation. _Kyuubi!_

Kyuubi quickly took over the right side of the body, half-immolating Naruto's body once more, and catching the grass around his right foot on fire. He poured his demonic chakra into the weights on the right side, then flung them at the wall of sand.

The weights were so charged with evil chakra that they glowed red-hot, catching the air around them on fire. They sailed into and through the wall of sand, melting a path for themselves. Naruto dropped the weights on the left side to the ground, then shifted so that Kyuubi's half of the body would take the blow from the sand.

The sand crashed into the semi-flaming boy, but continued past him, and the hot chakra melted any sand that got too close. Once the wave was past, Kyuubi/Naruto stepped out of the glass shape that had formed in front of them, and ran around it straight at the redheaded boy.

In the back of his mind, Kyuubi felt that he should know who this boy was, or at least why he could control sand, but paid little attention to that. There were more pressing matters at hand.

Gaara stared in wonder at the strange, fiery ninja that had penetrated through a wall of sand over five feet thick. The sand was coming back to him quickly, but the boy was far faster than any normal genin.

_**Move! That is the Kyuubi no kitsune! The nin-tailed fox demon! Run, you fool! You have angered him!**_

_Without your sand to protect you, you are nothing but a coward, Shukaku._

_**So do you have better in mind! If he reaches us, your Armor of Sand will be useless! He could kill you!**_

Gaara conceded this point, and drew up sand from the ground. He floated up, out of the angry half-demon's reach on a cloud of sand. "Until the next time we meet, fellow jinkuurichi."

Gaara's remaining sand returned to him, reforming the gourd on his back, and Gaara floated back towards his campsite.

Naruto/Kyuubi watched him fly out of sight. Then Kyuubi released control of the right side, which Naruto took back without only a bit of a stumble. _Finally did that without falling over, even if it was only half of the body._

Sakura dropped from the trees, but felt... afraid of Naruto. _Who would have thought the day would come when anyone would fear the ninja who used to run around in an orange jumpsuit, screaming his ambition to be Hokage?_

Naruto went around and collected his weights for his left side, replacing them on his arms legs, and torso, then went to retrieve the ones for the right side. He heard the trickles of a small stream, and kicked the weights over in that direction, until he finally reached it. Sakura followed behind him, keeping her distance.

Naruto kicked his weights into the water, which they entered with a large hiss of steam, waited a few seconds, then grabbed them back out of the stream. They were still warm, but bearably so.

He put them into their assigned places, then turned to Sakura. "I can carry Sasuke now."

Sakura just stared at him, then handed over the limp Sasuke. Naruto slung the boy over his right shoulder.

He stared at Sakura, until she realized that she was the one who knew how to get to the tower. She checked the stars, then headed off at a jog. Naruto followed not far behind, hoping he would not collapse from exhaustion until they reached the tower.

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End of chapter. You had better freaking' review after I wrote a chapter this long. I listen to you guys, and I got enough suggestions for longer chapters that I decided write them longer. This is about twice as long as any chapter before, and almost three times as long as some of the shorter ones. I can write them this long from now on, but I demand tribute in the form of review! This may or may not mean a slightly longer wait for chapters, but I'll try to keep sending them out on a weekly basis, if I can. But seriously, please review!


	20. The Preliminary Matches: Part I

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Gaara thought about the other jinkuurichi that he had faced in the exam. _He is powerful. My sand is no protection from that sort of energy. How can such a strong ninja come from a place as soft as Konoha?_

Gaara shifted his weight, listening to the quiet breathing of his brother and sister in the nearby room. Once they had gotten out of the Forest of Death, summoned a sand jounin with the two scrolls, and been passed, Temari and Kankurou had immediately gone to bed, despite the fact that they had done none of the fighting. _Such weakness. But then, they do sleep at night, and since we finished early in the morning, they must have missed some of their sleep. The need for sleep is a weakness. I wonder, does the other container sleep?_

Gaara stared out the window at the rising sun, pondering this.

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Sakura opened the doors to team seven's assigned room in the tower, helping Sasuke to walk. The morning sunlight streamed in behind them. About ten minutes before they had reached the tower, Sasuke had awoken. He required help to walk, however, because of a strange pain all over his body. Naruto walked in behind them, heavily favoring his left leg. It had still not healed because Naruto's left side was cut off from Kyuubi's chakra.

Sasuke pulled away from Sakura once they entered the room, and sat over against the wall. Naruto pulled out the two scrolls that they had acquired in the exam, and tossed them to Sakura.

"Can we open them? I don't remember them saying anything about opening the scrolls," Sakura asked.

"Just open them," Sasuke replied gruffly.

Sakura looked hurt, but opened the scrolls. Her eyes lit up with recognition. "These are summoning scrolls! But it looks like they have to be used together to work."

"Then use them," Sasuke monotoned.

Sakura spread the scrolls out on the ground, the heaven on top of the earth, and placed her hands in the indicated positions. She willed her chakra into the scrolls.

A cloud of smoke appeared just in front of her, then dissipated to reveal Kakashi, reading his favorite book. He let out a perverted giggle before putting the book away.

"Congratulations on passing the second part of the exam. You guys will need to meet in the main room in a week in two days for announcements... And, don't be offended by my saying this, but... you guys look terrible. What did you run into?"

Sakura piped up, "We fought some sound ninja, and got their scroll, but then there was this other guy, and..." Sakura shuddered at the memory.

Naruto started where Sakura had left off. "We also ran into a pale guy. He said his name was Orochimaru." Kakashi flinched, his visible eye widening. "He paralyzed these two for a while, and bit Sasuke's neck." Kakashi looked, if possible, even more panicked. "I fought him, and after a while, he retreated."

Kakashi stared at Naruto. _This boy fought that traitorous sannin and lived? But then, Orochimaru certainly wouldn't waste his full power on a genin. But even so, Naruto had improved a lot to be able to hold his own against a ninja of that caliber._

"Um... good job, guys. Naruto and Sakura, your room assignments will be given out by the front desk. You need to stay here until the meeting at the end of the exam. Sasuke, you need to come with me."

Sasuke followed Kakashi out of the room. Naruto got up and jogged towards the front desk. Sakura followed slowly behind him.

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Naruto grumbled. His sealed left side required that he sleep as much as a normal human. Naruto inwardly smiled as he realized what he was thinking. He was a human, complaining about being reduced to normal human needs. But even if he had to spend, he still needed to train, though the left side of his body healed slowly, and probably wouldn't be back to normal for another week. The normal injuries would be gone in two or three days, but the demonic chakra burns would take the longer to fully heal. Until then, Naruto would have to take it easy.

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Sakura laid in bed, even though it was almost noon. She and Naruto had run all night, and she needed to sleep. But she found that she could not. Every time she started to drift off, she would see the maniacal grin of the pale Orochimaru, or the fearsome, angry Naruto that she had never known existed until early this morning.

She could still clearly see Naruto, in the way he had looked while fighting Gaara. He was positively... demonic. One side of his body flamed with a red-orange chakra that felt evil, even at a distance. It was not the sort of evil that she had felt when Orochimaru had paralyzed her, though. Orochimaru felt cold and calculating, and was evil in the I-don't-care-about-you way. Naruto, when he had fought Gaara, had felt evil in the I-will-kill-anyone-who-looks-at-me-funny way. Sakura could still see Naruto eyes, one blue and round and one red and slitted.

Naruto had certainly changed from his youth. Sakura could remember the brightly clad little blonde who screamed out corny jokes and made horrible grades. Now, she thought that this boy, who had never gotten better than a D in anything until he had suddenly passed the Academy Exam, had surpassed her. He had gotten faster, and smarter, and stronger. And it appeared that he even used weights! Sakura had never heard of anyone but the strange Rock Lee using weights, but she had seen Naruto replace his after the fight with Gaara. What could possibly have motivated Naruto to have made such a drastic change?

Sakura rolled over again. Maybe she would eventually fall asleep.

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Kakashi drew the final few lines on Sasuke back. Now, written on the floor and continuing onto Sasuke's chest and back, was the seal that would contain Orochimaru's gift. Kakashi surveyed his work, looking for any errors. There were none.

"Are you ready, Sasuke?"

The raven-haired boy nodded. Kakashi pressed his hands over the cursed seal and applied chakra. The lines of Kanji on Sasuke and covering the floor glowed softly, then moved and formed a new seal around the snake-nin's mark.

Sasuke fell to the floor, unconscious. Kakashi sighed in relief, then spun around at a slight sound in the dark, concrete-floored room. Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows.

Kakashi immediately formed his only original technique, charging the Chidori in his right hand. "I will not let you take Sasuke!"

"Come now, Kakashi. You don't think that you can defeat a sannin, surely?"

"I can sacrifice my life to end yours."

Orochimaru laughed, a malevolent, amused chuckle. "Do not worry, Kakashi. I have not come to take Sasuke-kun. He will come to me, in time. He will come to me for power. Until then, I am willing to be patient." Orochimaru backed into the shadows, disappearing from Kakashi's sight.

Kakashi breathed a sigh in relief, releasing the Chidori. He wiped his brow to cleanse it of the sweat that had accumulated there during Orochimaru's visit. _That was close. I must tell the Hokage at once._

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Naruto/Kyuubi ran around the tower complex in the late afternoon light, receiving strange looks from people walking to and from the buildings. They didn't care. _We need to train, and people's opinion of us is irrelevant to our survival, as long as they did not know about our true nature._

Kyuubi growled in agreement. **_At least this dual control isn't as hard as it might have been. We do need to work on our techniques, though, because they will require more exact movements, and we cannot afford to be unable to use any techniques in a battle._**

_We'll work on that starting next lap._

The strange duo finished the lap and began running around while performing techniques, causing people to give them even stranger looks. The two halves fumbled through the seals, but after a few minutes, were managing to perform the techniques correctly most of the time.

_**Kit, are you sure that no one will notice that one of our eyes is darker than the other?**_

_Nothing is for sure, but since we hardly ever talk to anyone, it is the best we can do. We need both eyes for depth perception, so we cannot afford to go with one eye covered. Besides, even if someone did notice, most people do not know about you, and with any luck, no one who does will attribute the fact to your influence._

_**The whiskers are longer on my side, as well.**_

_There isn't much we can do about that. It is one thing to pass a single genjutsu past jounin. But two so close together would be bound to bring attention. It is the best we can do for now, although when we go to the announcements tomorrow, we can cover you eye instead, since we won't be fighting or training, and there are bound to be skilled ninja around._

Naruto/Kyuubi ran around a building, then made a dozen shadow clones and sprinted toward the next building.

_Kyuubi, can we talk while we are like this?_

_**I doubt it, but we can try later, not while we are out here.**_

The symbiotic duo continued training until late in the evening.

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"Are you sure that it was Orochimaru?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi frowned, causing the wrinkles on his face to crease into even larger furrows. _Why would Orochimaru be after Sasuke? To have shown himself in Konoha twice, he must be very focused on something, but- Orochimaru's special technique! He wants the eyes of the Uchiha! Of course!_

"Kakashi, I want you to keep an eye on Sasuke. Orochimaru is trying to entice him with power, but is planning to use Sasuke's body as his vessel. We cannot allow that man to acquire the Uchiha's powers. You will stop Orochimaru from doing so, using any means necessary. If that means that you must kill Sasuke, then do so, but only if you have to. We cannot allow an enemy with such power to also have the power of the Uchiha. One such man is enough."

Kakashi nodded.

"You are dismissed, Kakashi."

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The next morning, the candidates who had passed the Forest of Death gathered in the main room of the tower, in front of the giant stone hands which formed a seal. The genin gathered on the raised tile platform that stood in the middle of the large, three story room.

Ino waited impatiently with Shikamaru and Chouji, occasionally brushing her long bangs behind her ears with a hand. The blonde hair promptly came out, and she would put it back. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. _Women._

Hinata stood behind Kiba and Shino, pressing her two index fingers together. Every so often, she would look at Naruto, blush, then immediately fix her gaze on her feet.

Gaara stood in front of Temari and Kankurou, arms crossed, with his usual stoic look. Temari leaned on her fan, and Kankurou stood still, Karasu strapped onto his back and wrapped in white bandages.

The sound team that team seven had beaten had somehow gotten two scrolls and were now standing in the room, apart from everyone else.

Lee was talking excitedly to Neji about how good they were all going to do in the next part, while Tenten stared dreamily at the Hyuuga prodigy, who was busily ignoring Lee.

Sasuke stood with his arms crossed, looking down. Sakura stood to his right, looking confused at the presence of the sound team. Naruto/Kyuubi crouched just behind Sasuke and to left, his mask skewed so that his right eye was covered. His visible eye gazed straight ahead.

Seeing that everyone was here, the Sandaime walked quickly to stand in front of the assembled genin. He turned to face them.

"Congratulations on passing the second part of the chuunin exam. It is unusual to have so many pass, which brings me to this announcement. It is not customary to allow so many genin into the tournament that comprises the final part of the exam. Therefore, we will be having one round of preliminary matches before the actual tournament. The winners will progress to the tournament. The preliminary matches will start tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning. The pairings for the matches will be announced there. You are dismissed."

The Hokage walked back to the side to further discuss his plans to deal with a possible attack by Orochimaru. Kakashi needed to know everything that the traitorous sannin could do, and there was no one better to teach him than Sarutobi.

Kakashi waited for the Hokage on the side of the room. Meanwhile, he looked back at his team, and smiled when he saw Naruto's mask. _I guess he has more respect for me than I thought. But it's the left eye I cover. He needs to pay better attention. Or maybe he wants to be a little different._

The genin walked out of the room slowly, discussing this new development.

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Naruto/Kyuubi walked out of the tower, replacing his genjutsu as he walked. As soon as the genjutsu was in place, he pulled his mask back to its normal position and began running. **_We wasted enough time sleeping and then going to that five-minute meeting. We need to train._**

The semi-demon ran around the complex, performing random techniques. Suddenly a thought occurred to Kyuubi, causing him to suddenly stop. Naruto barely realized this, and the strange duo stumbled around for a few seconds before regaining their balance.

_What was that for, Kyuubi?_

_**I knew I recognized that sand kid we fought. He has Shukaku sealed in him.**_

_Shukaku?_

_**The one-tailed demon badger.**_

_A badger._

_**Yes, a badger.**_

_How is that relevant?_

_**If we fight him again, it will help us to be able to predict his actions. Shukaku is the sort of demon who eats a persons soul while they sleep, which would explain the dark rings of sleep-deprivation we saw on the host. Shukaku is also a coward, which means that the host's sand will protect him even if he is unaware of an attack. This knowledge, and what we learned from the fight in the forest, will help us the next time we fight him.**_

_Oh. Well, I guess we'll keep that in mind._

The half-demon returned to training.

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Kakashi walked out of the tower. After his talk with the Hokage, he felt so inadequate against Orochimaru. Despite his boast the previous day, Kakashi was not sure if he could have killed Orochimaru even at the cost of his own life.

Sensing movement, Kakashi looked up and saw Naruto running from building to building, his mask back in its normal position. _At least he is not so foolish as to try and run around with no depth perception. It took me years to master it._

Kakashi walked along, pulling his favorite book out from its pouch. Kakashi giggled perversely as he made his way to his room.

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The following morning, the genin gathered again in the central room of the tower. Naruto/Kyuubi stood near the back of the assembled genin, arms crossed, and one part of his mask pulled over his right eye. A few feet to his side, Subaku no Gaara stood in an almost identical pose, just behind his siblings.

The sleepless demon container glanced over at Naruto. _What has your life been like here, Uzamaki Naruto? Do they fear you as they fear me? Do they hate you as they hate me?_ Gaara saw they unmistakable signs of sleep deprivation around Naruto's eyes, though they were far from the impressive black circles that surrounded Gaara's eyes. _It seems you get some sleep, though less than most._ Gaara wondered why he was so curious about Naruto. Was it normal to want to know about someone like yourself? Gaara did not know. He had never led a normal life.

Gaara was roused from his reverie when the genin silenced themselves. A sickly-looking chuunin stood in front of them. He cleared his throat a few times, and began to speak.

"Welcome to the preliminary matches for the chuunin exam. Those who win here will advance to the chuunin exam's third and final part, the tournament. Although anyone may be chosen to be chuunin from the tournament, even if they lose in the first round, no one who loses in a preliminary match will be able to be promoted."

The chuunin coughed into his hand again. "The matches will all be held today. I will be your examiner, and will determine when a ninja is unable to fight, and award victories to the winners. The pairing for each fight will be determined randomly, and the contestants names will be displayed on the board behind me."

He pointed to a large board, which blinked and then displayed, "First match: Aburame Shino vs. Zaku."

The chuunin coughed again. "Let the preliminary matches begin!"

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Shino looked at the smugly confident sound ninja that stood across the tiled platform. He was vaguely aware of people cheering for him from the railed balcony that circled the room near the ceiling.

He saw Zaku smirk. Obviously this sound shinobi had never heard of Shino's abilities, or was blithely unaware of the horrifying things hordes of bugs could do.

The sickly chuunin held his hand high, then dropped it and jumped to the side of the ground floor.

"Hajime!"

Zaku pulled out a kunai, ready to end this fight at the start. _Any ninja dumb enough to wear sunglasses inside shouldn't be a challenge._ Suddenly, he saw a swarm of bugs pour out of Shino's gray trench coat. _That changes things._ The bugs flew toward Zaku.

Zaku dropped his kunai, and pushed chakra through the hollow tubing of his arm. A blast of wind blew the bugs away. Zaku drew another kunai and charged. _I have to end this soon. I don't even want to think about what those bugs could do._

Shino watched the overconfident sound-nin blow the bugs away, then draw a kunai and charge. _He has no chance, now._ Shino dodged every thrust of the kunai, and blocked every punch and kick. Every time he blocked the ninja, he left a few bugs, which crawled to Zaku's arms and clogged the hollow tubes that allowed him to use his special technique.

Zaku tried a few more punches, then jumped back when he saw the swarm of bugs returning from wherever he had blown them to. He forced chakra into the hollow tubing of his arms...

And nothing happened. _What is going on?_

Zaku pushed the chakra harder, but it would not go through the tubing.

Shino spoke up. "This match is over, examiner."

The sickly chuunin looked skeptical, but kept a close eye.

Zaku stared at the leaf-nin. How dare he assume that this match was over! Zaku pushed his chakra fiercely into the tubing.

Holes exploded all over his upper arms as chakra forced its way out. Zaku screamed and fell unconscious.

The examiner coughed, and jumped to Zaku's side. He took a short look, then stood up.

"Winner, Aburame Shino."

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After medical ninja had cleared Zaku from the arena, the board on the wall flickered to life again.

"Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino"

The two girls jumped down to the platform.

"Hajime!"

The examiner jumped out of the way, and not to soon. The instant the match began, the two girls began throwing kunai for all they were worth. A metallic ringing filled the large room as kunai after kunai clashed in mid-air.

Each girl knew that the other was equal in skill and strength. This was a battle of will.

Then the girls were out of kunai. Sakura quickly formed a seal and made two bunshins. Sakura and the bunshins ran quickly at Ino.

Ino had no idea what to do. She decided upon an image to defend against, but just before it reached her, it vanished in a puff of smoke. _Wrong one._

Sakura punched Ino in the face, sending the blonde several yards. Ino stood up, and thought about what to do. She decided against having a touching flashback about her friendship with Sakura, and ran straight at the pink-haired genin. But before Ino could land the punch she had intended, Sakura dodged to the side, grabbed Ino's long ponytail, and flung the blonde back across the arena.

Ino landed in a heap. Standing up, she drew several smoke bombs from her pouch and threw them all around Sakura. Ino formed three bunshins, and together they ran into the smoke.

Sakura spun around as she heard feet running all around her. Then from one side, she heard, "Not so tough now, are you?"

Sakura turned to face the voice. She heard footsteps growing closer from where the voice had come from. _Ino, you ruined the effect of the smoke bombs by revealing your position. I'm sorry I have to do this, but-_

Ino smirked as she heard her clone speak. It meant that the clone was exactly opposite Sakura from Ino. So the blonde formed a familiar seal, and slumped to the floor.

Sakura froze. Why wouldn't her body move.

She felt herself jog out of the smoke and raise her hand. She heard her voice say, "I, Haruno Sakura, forfeit the match."

The she felt herself form a seal. Suddenly she could control her body again. _Mind-Body Transfer Technique. I should have seen that coming._

Ino stood up as the examiner said, "Winner, Yamanaka Ino."

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Naruto/Kyuubi watched the matches, not out of concern for the combatants, but to learn things about how these people fought, should he face them later, and in case he should see something worth emulating.

It was interesting to watch the matches with only one eye. It made it more difficult to tell exactly where kunai were going, and if they would hit. They were getting used to it, though.

Naruto/Kyuubi heard Kakashi approach from behind them.

"Hey Naruto. Am I so cool that you feel the need to copy me. That's almost too funny. Copying the copy-nin. I'll have to write that down..."

Kakashi sighed. Nothing got a rise out of Naruto. "Why are you doing that anyway, Naruto.?"

Naruto and Kyuubi thought quickly before coming up with an excuse. "To see what it would be like to fight like you. Since you fight like that and you're a jounin, there must be a good reason for it."

"Ah, I see." Kakashi felt no urge to tell Naruto about the Sharingan, so he decided not to mention his reason for fighting with only one eye.

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The board shone with the new match's pairing: "Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji"

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Medic-nins hauled Hinata from the arena after the fight. The fight had been a complete victory for Neji, and had lasted only 30 seconds. Hinata was too slow to hit him, and was too afraid to think clearly.

The board flickered to life again. "Uchiha Sasuke vs. Yoroi." AN: I think that's the guy's name.

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End of chapter. It would have been a little longer, but I was interrupted while writing it, and I wanted to post this on Saturday as usual, so I saved Sasuke's fight for next chapter. As with before, I demand tribute in exchange for longer chapters. Just a few words, at least.


	21. The Preliminary Matches: Part II

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... If you did not see that this or the last chapter was posted (I did update last Saturday, if you missed it), I am sorry, but FF has been malfunctioning, and I do not think any of the email alerts for anything (Story/author alerts, review alerts, PM's, etc.) have been working. I had to look up reviews instead of receiving alerts, and I am not sure if my replies to some of those reviews ever got through. With any luck, you will receive word when this chapter is posted, but we can only hope. If you are wondering why I posted this on Friday, it is because I will be gone over the weekend, and out of the goodness of my heart, I decided not to keep you waiting. Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Seeing his name on the board, Sasuke jumped down to the tiled arena. He saw a tall man in sunglasses drop onto the other side of the platform. _That must be Yoroi._ Yoroi wore a veil over his lower face. It matched the dark purple-black of the rest of his outfit.

Sasuke noticed the sunglasses. _Does he have abilities like Shino? I don't think he is from the Aburame clan, but I can't be sure. Maybe he has some other problem._

The examiner, seeing that both ninjas were in place, shouted, "Hajime!" and immediately leapt over to the wall.

Sasuke remembered that he was not supposed to use chakra in this match. Kakashi had said that any use of chakra could activate the curse seal, because Sasuke was not yet used to the will necessary to keep it in check. Kakashi had also said that if for any reason the curse seal activated during a match, Kakashi would stop the match, disqualifying Sasuke, in order to fix the seal as soon as possible. Since Sasuke knew that genjutsu and ninjutsu required chakra, that left him only with taijutsu. Knowing that Yoroi would probably pick up on his weakness very soon, Sasuke charged, hoping to end the match quickly.

Yoroi smirked, though no one could see it through his veil. _Close combat is my specialty._ Yoroi's hands began to glow with blue chakra. _Once he comes within range, I'll drain his chakra intil he is unable to fight. Not only will that secure the match, but it will also give me chakra in case the next fight is sometime in the next day or two._

Sasuke leapt at Yoroi, attempting a flying kick. Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's leg, draining chakra, and swing Sasuke around before flinging him back to the other side of the platform.

Sasuke landed in a heap. _What was that technique? Why did it make me feel so tired?_ Shaking off a vague uneasiness, Sasuke stood up and charged again. _Obviously it has to do with that technique he's using, but was does it actually do?_

Yoroi rolled his eyes as he saw Sasuke charge again. _This kid sure is thick._ When Sasuke crouched suddenly and tried to sweep Yoroi's legs out from under him, the veiled man leaped over Sasuke, landing just behind him. He used his right arm to place Sasuke in a headlock, and placed his left hand on Sasuke's neck to drain the boy's chakra.

Yoroi had no idea that he was trying to drain chakra out of Sasuke's curse seal. _Why can't I feel any chakra? I'm hardly getting any chakra at all, and it feels strange._ Yoroi pulled harder, trying to overcome any resistance that Sasuke might be attempting.

An explosion of purple chakra blew Yoroi into the wall behind Sasuke. He would have survived, but because he was no longer needed in the story, he crashed into the wall head-first and broke his neck, killing him instantly. Yoroi's body flamed silently with purple chakra against the wall for a few seconds before falling to the ground, where it smouldered with occasional flickers of purple chakra.

Sasuke, who felt strangely better after that, stood up and walked over to the battered body of his opponent, which was lying on its back. Sasuke was startled to see a curse seal peeking through a charred hole of Yoroi's clothing, in the same place that Sasuke had his.

A sudden thought occurred to Sasuke. While the examiner came over to investigate, Sasuke molded some chakra. The chakra formed correctly, with no interference or reaction from the curse seal. Sasuke used the chakra to perform a henge. The curse seal did nothing. It was like it was not even there.

The examiner turned Yoroi over with his foot, and, upon seeing the unmistakable signs of death, raised his voice.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"

Medical-nin rushed over and carried the rapidly deteriorating body of Yoroi off the tiled platform. Sasuke, feeling more pleasant than he had in a long time, jumped up to the balcony to join Naruto in watching the next few matches.

The light-board displayed: "Inuzaka Kiba vs. Sabaku no Gaara"

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The match was short and brutal. Kiba charged Gaara, who swatted the dog-lover into a wall with his sand, and then crushed the mutt into the wall with a pillar of sand. Seeing Kiba's broken, unconscious body fall to the ground, the examiner cried, "Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!" before the sand-nin could do anything further.

Medical-nin rushed Kiba to the hospital.

Gaara walked dissolved into sand and reappeared by his siblings with the same stoic expression that he had worn before the match.

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After the shock from Gaara's match wore off, the board called for Shikamaru and Kin.

Ignoring the slow-paced match, Sasuke turned to face Naruto, who was wearing his mask, as was becoming his custom. Part of the mask was pulled down over his right eye. Sasuke smiled. _Even if he tries to act all tough, the Naruto from long ago is still there somewhere, imitating his sensei with his own mask._

Surprising even himself with his sudden cheerfulness, Sasuke spoke up. "Hey, Naruto."

The masked boy looked over at him, but said nothing.

"Could you do a favor for me? Could you tell me what that mark on the back of my neck looks like?" Sasuke pulled the collar of his shirt down and turned away in order to give Naruto a better view.

"There is a thin circular mark around what looks like a white scar. The scar looks similar to the mark that you had there before."

Sasuke let out a breath that he did not know he had been holding. Some way, somehow, he had lost his curse seal. Sasuke was not sure how Kakashi's seal could exist after the thing that it sealed was removed, but it did not matter.

Sasuke's head snapped towards the center of the room when he heard the examiner announce, "Winner, Nara Shikamaru!"

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Kakashi walked up behind Sasuke. "What happened out there, Sasuke? I was about to end the match, but when I saw that Yoroi was in no condition to fight, I let the examiner end the match as usual. Did you activate the curse seal? You know how dangerous that could be."

"No. When Yoroi tried his technique that second time, he did so over the curse seal, which apparently reacted... badly."

Sasuke turned and pulled down his collar. "But it wasn't all bad. Whatever happened out there removed my curse seal and gave it to him. I saw it on his body after the fight."

Kakashi stared wide-eyed at Sasuke's neck. He saw the seal with which he had tried to contain the curse seal. But the curse seal was... gone. In its place was a small patch of faintly discolored skin, which looked like an ordinary scar.

After a moment, Kakashi snapped out of his amazement. "We need to inform the Hokage at once. Come with me, Sasuke."

Kakashi and Sasuke walked away, leaving Naruto alone on the balcony.

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Naruto/Kyuubi watched the next matches disinterestedly, never cheering. They were among the few who were not wildy cheering (or jeering) for or against one ninja or another. The semi-demon looked at Gaara, another quiet observer, who never moved from his original position, arms crossed, back straight, and an expression of passive disdain. The third silent spectator was a silver-haired genin who had quit the chuunin exam immediately after the Forest of Death. Naruto/Kyuubi occasionally saw him walking around the balcony, taking notes on the fights. The duo had noticed him especially especially after the surprising finale to Sasuke's match, which the silver-haired genin had watched with a mixture of unconcealed surprise and alarm, before scribbling furiously in his notes.

The half-demon recalled the last few matches. The sand-nin, Kankurou, had defeated the sound's Dosu by starting out impersonating his own puppet, then launching a vicious sneak attack, ending the fight before Dosu thought to use his special technique. Tenten had fought valiantly against Temari, but her projectile attacks were all but useless against someone who could blow every one of them away with a flick of the wrist.

There were only two people left, which meant there was only one pairing possible.

The board announced, "Uzamaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee"

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Naruto/Kyuubi faced the eccentric, fuzzy-browed boy who stood across the tiles. **_It will be... strange... to fight this human, since he was the inspiration for most of our training._**

_And he's been training like that for longer than we have. He will be faster and stronger than anyone we have ever met, and even if he sleeps more than we, our few extra hours every day cannot equal the extra years I heard that he has been using weights._

_**This should be... interesting.**_

The examiner glanced at each of them, and, seeing that they were both ready, shouted, "Hajime!" as he sprang back to the wall.

Rock Lee grinned. "Do your best, Naruto! The fires of youth burn within us both, so I expect you to be a difficult opponent!"

Naruto/Kyuubi placed his genjutsu over his right eye, then uncovered it for the match.

Both ninjas suddenly disappeared, then reappeared, sliding away from each other after exchanging lightning fast punches and kicks. They blurred out of sight again, and odd flickers of color appeared around the tiles, marking where they clashed again and again. Flecks of black and bits of green swirled around the tiles. Then, just as suddenly as they had begun, they reappeared where they had been standing only seconds before, breathing heavily.

"You are... a worthy opponent, Naruto! You are very fast! But the true test of your youthful strength will be to see how long you can keep that speed up!"

The demonic duo said nothing.

The two ninjas vanished again, and again only spots of random color hinted at their presence as they fought furiously. Then a loud _clang_ echoed through the large room. Lee and Naruto/Kyuubi stood still in the pose of their last clash, the half-demon's forearm held up, the weight on his arm taking the brunt of Lee's weighted foot above him, preventing it from crushing him into the floor. They stood as stiff as statues for a moment, then jumped back from each other.

"You use weights, Naruto? You are even more full of the vibrance of youth than I thought! We are like brothers to each other, except we are not related! This shall be a test of both our skills and our training!"

"Lee!" Maito Gai shouted from the balcony. "Take off your weights!"

"But Gai-sensei, I thought that I was only to take them off when protecting others!"

"I will make an exception!"

Lee and Gai flashed each other their trademark smile and thumbs-up, temporarily blinding everyone in the room.

Lee began to take off his weights, starting with his legs.

_**This can't be too bad, since we can take ours off, too.**_

Naruto/Kyuubi pulled the cord for his weights, causing them to drop to the tiles with a horrid clanging, and cracking the tiles underneath them.

Then Lee, having taken all of his weights off, dropped them to the ground, where they crushed the tiles into powder and sprayed bits of rock everywhere. A loud _boom_ reverberated in the room.

_Or... this could be really, really bad._

Then both ninja disappeared. Naruto/Kyuubi spun around and blocked a kick, then turned and stopped a punch, then immediately twisted to dodge another kick.

Lee grinned while he fought. _Naruto will be able to see what he can do if he trains hard enough! Although I am not a genius like Neji, I can be a genius of hard work! And perhaps I could teach Naruto this, as well!_

Kyuubi was grateful that he and Naruto were splitting control of the body. There was no way that they would be able to dodge all of these if only one of them were in charge of the whole body. As it was, they were barely able to dodge and block what Lee was doing, and since every kick or punch from Lee threatened to break bones and shatter stones, it was just as well that they avoided them.

Then they failed to block a kick, which consequently sent them flying into the air. Lee leapt above them, and slammed them in the stomach, causing them to crash into the tiles below, creating a small crater where they landed.

Lee lighted upon the ground with the grace of a fawn, as if he had finished a ballet, and not a ferocious beat-down.

The dark ninja got to his/their feet, and looked at Lee. Their right eye was blood-red, and the pupil was slitted. The right side of Naruto's body began to steam, his sweat evaporating from the heat of the demonic chakra that was hidden just underneath his clothing. Naruto/Kyuubi's face was contorted in anger, their eyebrows forming a 'V' shape above their narrowed eyes.

Lee looked in confusion at Naruto._ What is happening to Naruto? How did his eye change color? Why is he smoking like that?_ Putting his thoughts to the side for now, Lee sprang forward.

The two combatants phased out of existence as they attacked again. Lee aimed a punch at Naruto's right shoulder, which, curiously, the boy did not dodge. Lee struck home with his first strike, then recoiled as a spike of demonic chakra lanced into his hand upon contact.

Kyuubi/Naruto, still steaming but managing to hide his demonic chakra from sight, slammed his palm into the center of Lee's chest, allowing him to use his hand to hide the spike of evil chakra that was impaling the green-clad ninja and burning the green leotard in a large circle around the impact point.

Lee flew back and hit the far wall, his hand and chest already inflamed with the poison of Kyuubi's chakra. Lee fell to the ground, where he began coughing uncontrollably. The affected body parts began to burn with the pain of the demonic influence, and Lee curled into the fetal position, afraid to touch his hand or chest for fear of further pain. Already, he could not move his hand, and his coughing was becoming more pronounced, and blood came up with every hack.

Naruto/Kyuubi waited, with an almost maniacal grin pasted on their face, for Lee to attack or for the examiner to end the match.

The examiner walked over to Lee. Seeing his condition, he made a move to announce Naruto's victory, but Lee began to stand up, his face a mask of pain. Then he suddenly surged with chakra, his entire body turning a shade of red, though not the angry color that showed on his hand and his exposed chest. His eyes were almost pure white, his pupils barely visible as they shrunk. Then he disappeared.

Kyuubi immediately poured more chakra into the right side of his body, recharging the layer of demonic chakra that did not show outside of his clothing, but would still hurt Lee every time he hit it. Naruto pulled his left leg up and quickly dropped onto his left side. With any luck, Lee would now be able to hit only the right side.

Lee appeared above the demon duo and slammed his leg into their exposed right side, breaking ribs and damaging organs. Lee ignored the stabbing pain in his leg that accompanied his kick, unaware that he was absorbing Kyuubi's poisonous chakra. His foot immediately began to swell, rendering it useless in the fight, since any pain inflicted there would be magnified tenfold by the poison of Kyuubi's chakra, and since it was all but immobile from the swelling.

Lee suddenly appeared at Naruto's feet and tried to pick Naruto up to fling him into a wall, but upon grabbing Naruto's right leg, his good left hand was burned by even more demonic chakra.

Overwhelmed by the huge amount of demonic chakra now circulating in his body, Lee collapsed next to Naruto.

Naruto/Kyuubi stood up, his ribs and organs already beginning to heal. Kyuubi reduced his output of chakra to normal levels, removing the layer of chakra from his right side, and the duo subtly replaced the genjutsu over their right eye. They walked a few paces away from Rock Lee.

The examiner jumped to Lee's side, and seeing that the boy was unconscious, announced, "Winner, Uzamaki Naruto!"

Medical-nin came and took the red, swollen and feverish body of Rock Lee to the hospital for treatment.

Naruto/Kyuubi ignored the requests of the medical-nin and jumped back to the balcony after recovering his weights from where he had dropped them. **_Our wounds will heal soon enough._** They pulled their mask over their face and released the genjutsu, then began to replace the weights into their places within his dark outfit.

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The Sandaime, though disturbed by what he had seen in Naruto's fight, retained his appearance of calm as he announce that the final section of the chuunin exam would begin in two weeks, to give the people who wanted to attend time to arrive, and to give the ninja still in the exam time to recover and train.

After making the announcement, he walked back to the side of the room, and watched as people filed out, talking about what they had seen and done.

Kakashi walked up beside the Hokage. "I know you saw it, too."

Sarutobi sighed. "Yes, I saw it. It is indeed troubling that he possesses such control over the... special... chakra," he mentally checked their surrounding for listeners, "and that he feels the need to hide it. It was painfully obvious to me that he was concealing the chakra within his clothing. Poorly, of course, because that chakra is not the sort of thing you can hide from someone who has felt it before. It is not a subtle thing."

The old man took a puff on his pipe. "And I noticed something strange about his face. I had passed over it before, because I did not expect that sort of thing from a genin, but I think he is using a genjutsu over at least one of his eyes."

Kakashi looked at the Hokage. "A genjutsu? Why?"

"I do not know. But I fear the worst. We already saw that he tries to conceal that chakra. What if... his guest... was affecting him in ways not foreseen by the Fourth? What if he is turning into something? What if his guest were influencing his conscious thought? There are so many things that could go wrong with such a complicated seal like the one the fourth tried so many years ago. We need to keep an eye on Naruto. And by we, I mean you, Kakashi. I will be busy preparing for the tournament, and the conclusion of the chuunin exams.

"Your mission, if you wish to call it that," the Sandaime continued, " is to monitor Naruto for these two weeks and see if he does anything out of the ordinary. If you see anything suspicious, tell me immediately. Do not, under any circumstances, confront Naruto or even talk to him."

"Of course, Hokage-sama. But who will teach my students?"

"I will find some temporary replacements for you. And Kakashi, try not to let Naruto see you."

"Very well, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi followed Naruto from a distance, and saw the boy walk out of the doors of the tower, and then begin to sprint down the only orad to the village. Kakashi exited the tower and jumped up to the trees, stealthily following the masked, black-clad genin.

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Naruto/Kyuubi sprinted back to the village as his ribs finished healing from Lee's powerful kick.

_**We still have a long way to go before we can even be the equal of all of the genin here. We're lucky that green guy collapsed when he did. Another one or two of those punches would have done us in.**_

_Yeah. But I get the feeling that genin that strong are the exception and not the rule. Still, we have a lot of training before we'll be able to hold our own against a good jounin._

Before they got back to the village proper, Naruto/Kyuubi turned to the side and continued to his training area. Once there, he began running along the well-worn path he had made in the ground, using techniques occasionally, most of which were Kage Bunshins, and running back and forth along his trail.

Kyuubi was focused on the training, but was jolted out of his concentration when Naruto stumbled on a root that had been there since they had started using this seemingly abandoned training area.

_**What is wrong with you?! That root has been there forever!"**_

_Something is wrong with the training area._

Naruto/Kyuubi sniffed the air, and indeed, they could taste a new scent, the scent of freshly dug dirt. They followed it to the place where they had buried those villagers from so long ago, who had followed him here to kill him. There was a large hole in the ground, and all of the villagers' bodies were missing.

_**That's bad.**_

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Sarutobi had hardly sat down in his office in Konoha after returning from the chuunin preliminaries, before two ANBU burst into the room. The Hokage looked up at them.

The man in the cat mask pointed to the ANBU in the dog mask. "Speak," said the Hokage.

The ANBU in the dog mask spoke hurriedly. "You recall those villagers that went missing months ago? We found them buried in a mass grave in the unused training ground. The bodies are too rotten to see what killed them, other than the fact that the weapons were sharp, but we are investigating who might have done this. The bodies have been returned to their families for burial."

The Sandaime furrowed his brow. This missing person case had just become a mass murder case.

"Use as many resources as you feel you need to find the perpetrator," Sarutobi said. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well, there were kunai marks all over the trees in that training area, some old, but most of them fresh. There also seemed to be a trail that was worn into the ground. It also seemed to have been used recently, but when we brought tracking dogs, they sniffed the trail, then refused to follow the scent. We tried to force them, but they seemed too frightened to even look at the trail after they had caught the scent of whatever it was. We will continue using other avenues to find out who might have been at that training area."

The Hokage sighed. "Kakashi is on a mission right now, but will be available after the chuunin exams are completed. Once that is over, he will be able to bring Pakkun out there, and even if he won't follow the trail, he should at least be able to tell us why. I do know that dogs can often sense a ninja's prowess from something in his or her scent, so if they smelled an incredibly strong ninja, they may have become frightened. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed."

The ANBU bowed and turned to leave the room

Sarutobi added, "If you see a man with long white hair outside, would you please send him in?"

The ANBU left the room. Shortly after, the legendary sannin Jiraiya entered.

"What do you want?"

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Naruto/Kyuubi returned to training, realizing that there was not much they could do about the bodies now. They kept training, trying not to worry about the bodies.

Kakashi watched from the branches of a tree about 50 yards from where Naruto was training. _Does he ever stop? He's been sprinting for almost half an hour, and with those weights on, too. That must be why he was so skilled on the missions. I thought he was slacking off at home between missions, since I never saw him in the village, but it seems he was out here, training._

Hearing a noise, Kakashi turned, drawing a kunai.

Jiraiya landed next to Kakashi, who, upon recognizing the sannin, put away his kunai.

"Why are you hiding up here?" Jiraiya whispered.

"I'm supposed to keep an eye on Naruto. He's been using... his guest's chakra, and the Hokage wants to make sure that the seal is working properly."

Jiraiya smirked. "Doubting the Yondaime's work?"

"I only have to watch him until after the chuunin exams."

"That's fine. I was sent here to train Naruto. Unfortunately, I can't be around for very long at one time, since I have research to do."

Seeing Kakashi's perverted smile, Jiraiya added, "Not just that kind, either."

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Naruto/Kyuubi stopped the instant he saw the white-haired man drop from the trees. The half-demon immediately created twenty clones, all of whom drew a kunai. After checking to make sure that his genjutsu was in place, he mentally prompted one of the clones to speak. "Who are you?"

"What?! Do you not recognize the legendary frog-ninja, Jiraiya-sama?!"

The sannin face-faulted when the clones shook their heads. "I am here to train you, at the request of the Hokage. Kakashi was sent on a mission not long ago, and will not return for some time. So you shall receive the coveted position being of my student!"

Naruto/Kyuubi rolled his eyes. **_This guy is... strange._**

_Yeah, but we might be able to learn a lot from a sannin._

_**True.**_

Dispelling the clones, Naruto/Kyuubi said, "I am glad to meet you. I am Uzamaki Naruto."

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End of chapter. Tribute in the form of a review is a requirement, not an option! Mwahahahahaha! But seriously, review this chapter. The only reason I wrote this story was for reviews, and the only reason I write these longer chapters is to get more of them. Go ahead and take a few seconds, or even (heaven forbid) a minute or two and write a nice review! Nargles will be given in return for reviews!


	22. Summoning

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Yay for people who listened to my cry for reviews! Rewards are deserved here! tosses liberal amounts of nargles to reviewers And an extra handful to FFz for the 'nargles' acronym! showers Ffz with nargles Reviews are why I write this story, and if they're fun like Ffz's, it really makes my day! More people should write fun reviews like that, not necessarily acronyms, but you get the idea. Anyway, Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

Summon speech 

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Naruto/Kyuubi followed the sannin through the forest, leaping from branch to branch. Although he wondered where the legendary frog-ninja might be taking him, he kept silent, since pestering a strong ninja was never a good idea.

Suddenly they came to the edge of the forest, and looked out over... a bathhouse. The buildings appeared to have been built around a large natural hot springs. Naruto/Kyuubi could see people swimming in the springs, since from about 20 yards away and as many yards high, they fence was pointless.

The white-haired ninja dropped down to the ground and walked over to a small area of hot water that was not fenced in. The half-demon followed.

Jiraiya turned to face his young protege. "Today, you will practice walking on water using chakra. This will improve your chakra control, and perhaps your stamina. You have, I assume, practiced climbing trees using chakra?"

The unmasked boy nodded once, his blonde hair waving a bit with the motion.

"Good. This is similar, except that the water is not as constant a surface as trees are. You will have to constantly adjust the amount of chakra you use in order stay above the surface. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some research to do."

Naruto/Kyuubi watched the sannin go over to a small hole in the fence of the women's side of the bathhouse, take out a notebook, and begin writing while he giggled in a manner reminiscent of the way Kakashi did when reading those dirty books.

The blonde boy rolled his eyes and turned to the water. Focusing their chakra into their feet, he put one foot onto the surface of the water to get the feel for it. When they felt that they had gotten the feel for it, they stepped onto the water with the other foot.

Immediately the water around his feet began to ripple and stir. The half-demon could feel how he should be focusing his chakra, but for some reason they could not focus the chakra correctly. Their chakra seemed to pulse on its own, out of their control. They water began to froth . The semi-demon focused intently, but something prevented him from controlling the chakra properly. They fell into the water.

Naruto/Kyuubi climbed quickly out of the scalding water. This slight fluctuation of their chakra was almost unnoticeable until they needed precision and control. _Wouldn't we have noticed this before, when we were climbing trees?_

_**Apparently not.**_

The blonde tried several more times, each time lasting a second or so longer, but every time they thought he had gotten it, their chakra's pulsing rhythm would cause the water to stir, which made the pulsing effects more noticeable, which made the water froth like it was boiling, which caused the half-demon to fall into the water yet again.

After an hour of practice, the blonde had only managed to last up to ten seconds on the water. Jiraiya walked over to the boy as the semi-demon climbed out of the water again. Although the sannin had been peeping, he had also looked back occasionally to see how the boy was doing. He was disturbed by the lack of progress.

"Hey, Naruto. Try one more time for me."

The white-haired ninja watched intently as Naruto/Kyuubi walked onto the water, stood for a few seconds, then began to tilt as the water rippled and shook, before finally falling back in.

Naruto climbed out of the small springs again, when they were startled by the sannin reaching out with his left hand and lifting their shirt up.

"Naruto, mold some chakra."

Naruto and Kyuubi spoke quickly.

_**Does he know?! Should we kill him?! What is he doing?!!**_

_How could he possibly know when the Hokage hasn't figured it out? But still, the only chance of staying undiscovered is to act normal, and refusing to mold the chakra could make him suspicious._

_**I hope you're right.**_

The blonde formed a seal and molded chakra. Jiraiya watched as the seal he had expected appeared, along with anothe slightly off-center seal. _Orochimaru must be slipping to hit off-center on a genin._ The finger of his right hand, which was behind him, became tipped with blue flames of chakra.

Suddenly, before Naruto/Kyuubi could do anything, Jiraiya slammed his hand into their stomach, undoing Orochimaru's seal. Jiraiya was too focused on the seal to notice Naruto's left eye flicker red just before the boy fell back into the springs from the force of the blow.

However, Jiraiya did notice when the water glowed orange and began to boil.

_**I'll kill him!!! He knows!!! Kill him!!!**_

_He doesn't know! Look in my mind! He undid that Orochimaru guy's seal!_

_**What?! Why would he do that?! He would have told us if he were going to do that!**_

_Not if we were an innocent little boy who didn't know about the demon in his stomach. Now stop letting off so much chakra or he'll find us out for sure!_

The water returned to its normal hue as the blonde surfaced, gasping for air.

Jiraiya looked at the boy strangely. _I didn't think that unsealing him would have such a strong effect. But it seems to have worn off quickly._ He quickly changed his expression to a happy smile. "That was my patented 'Relaxation Technique!' You should be able to do better now that you're relaxed!"

Naruto/Kyuubi climbed out of the water, then turned to face the water.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes when the boy seemed to accept this. _Kids are so easy to fool._

Naruto/Kyuubi rolled his eyes. **_Humans are so easy to fool._** They walked onto the water, and stood still. The water around their feet barely vibrated from their presence. He walked across the water. The water hardly rippled at each step. He ran around on the water, did handstands on the water, flipped, jumped, and did other things that he might normally do on solid ground. Everything was easy.

_**So that seal was causing us to fail. How could that sannin figure out so quickly? I greatly underestimated him.**_

_One day with him, and we already got the seal fixed. Imagine what training with him for the whole two weeks could do for us! And now you can control the whole body, so I can go back._

_**Actually, we seem to have better control of the body when we share it. I think we should keep things as they are. It gave us a much needed advantage against Lee, and it could be a deciding factor in another fight.**_

After a few more minutes of practice on the water, Naruto/Kyuubi walked up behind the white-haired ninja, who had returned to his position by the hole in the fence.

"Ero-sennin, we have completed the exercise. Do you have anything else for me to do?" The demon duo cursed themselves for referring to themselves as 'we', but Jiraiya didn't seem to notice.

"Be quieter, Naruto!" hissed the frog ninja. "And don't call me that! I'm no ordinary pervert! I am a super pervert, so don't confuse me with those ordinary guys! No, I don't have anything else for you today. I'll come up with something for tomorrow. Meet me here tomorrow morning for more."

Naruto/Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "I think you need to teach us a technique to make it worth our while to keep your secret."

"What secret? Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a super pervert."

"But the women here don't know that you're watching them."

"You wouldn't..."

"All I have to do is raise my voice, and they'll know you're here."

"But I have research to do," Jiraiya whined, his face twisted in a frown. "Fine. I'll start teaching you to summon, but since you're so impatient, you'll have to summon frogs, since that is the only scroll I have access to."

Jiraiya walked away from the fence to a rock that sat by the water on which they had been practicing, pulled the large scroll from his back, and unrolled it to show the contract, and the list of everyone who had ever signed it. Naruto/Kyuubi followed him over.

"Naruto, you have to sign your name on here in blood to seal the contract," Jiraiya pointed to the next blank space on the contract.

Naruto/Kyuubi bit their right thumb and tried to sign their name, but the blood rolled off the contract like the paper was water repellent. Jiraiya looked confused. "What other summoning contracts have you signed, Naruto? Obviously, whoever you signed to is not on good terms with the frog summons, or vice versa."

It was Naruto/Kyuubi's turn to be confused. "I haven't signed any other contracts."

Jiraiya furrowed his brow. _Naruto doesn't seem to be the type to lie, but obviously he's signed some other contract. Unless... unless the Kyuubi had affected him in some way. Maybe housing that trickster fox signed Naruto to fox summoning automatically? But I don't know the seals for fox summoning, and I don't know anyone who would. But if it was an automatic signing, maybe any summoning jutsu will summon foxes automatically, no matter whose seals he does._

"Naruto, I want you to memorize these seals." Jiraiya went slowly through several seals. Naruto/Kyuubi copied him exactly.

"Good," Jiraiya said. "Now, bite your thumb again for more blood, wipe the blood across your arm, do those seals, then put your right hand to the ground. Don't use very much chakra."

Naruto/Kyuubi looked strangely at the old man, but bit their thumb again. _What? But we haven't signed the contract._

_**My presence, whether through the seal or through my constant contact with your body, may have signed a contract with foxes.**_

_How would it do that?_

_**I'm not completely sure. I don't know much about that seal the accursed Yondaime used, so I have no idea what that would do.**_

They wiped the blood on their arm, and formed the seals. Upon completing the last seal, they crouched and placed their right palm on the ground, putting a small bit of chakra into the technique.

Their hand was pushed up from the ground, and a bit of ninja smoke floated out from underneath. Naruto/Kyuubi moved their hand to find...

...The cutest baby fox ever. It's white fur even looked soft. It rolled from its side onto its feet, looked up at the blonde boy with its slitted orange eyes, and gave a happy little bark. It jumped onto the boy's right shoulder, barely making it, and pulled itself up with its paws.

Naruto/Kyuubi stood up and looked at Jiraiya.

The white-haired sannin smiled at the rather amusing image in front of him. The ninja, clad in all black, glared at him with an icy stare, a blank, emotionless expression fixed on his face, while the kit on his shoulder with bright white fur emanated a happy aura and looked all around itself with a wondering curiosity, occasionally yipping in excitement.

"Naruto, you seem to have a contract with foxes already. That would explain why you could not sign the frog contract." Jiraiya decided not to add that reason that Naruto could not sign the contract was because every summon family had refused to share contracts with the foxes after Kyuubi attacked Konoha.

"I suggest that you practice fighting with a summon from now on. They can be very useful in a fight. I saw the training you were doing over at that old field, and I think that you have a good routine, so I would like you to do that, but here, on the water, from now on. You'll be able to increase your stamina and control much faster that way."

Jiraiya returned to the hole in the fence, pulled out his notebook, and continued his important 'research.'

Naruto/Kyuubi walked onto the water. The kit jumped onto a nearby boulder to watch, seeming to understand what Naruto was going to do.

_I wonder if that kit understood what Jiraiya said._

_**It would not surprise me. Foxes are very smart.**_

_Of course you would say that._

Are you going to start? Or can we go play somewhere? I saw a butterfly in the forest, and I thought- 

Naruto/Kyuubi flinched at the voice that suddenly spoke in their mind. "What was that?"

That was me, master! You didn't know we could speak like this? 

_Great, another voice in my head,_ Naruto thought, though he was glad for another friend.

I can hear that, you know! 

Naruto/Kyuubi stared at the tiny fox.

I can hear you when you think out loud, like when you talk to Lord Kyuubi. Because you have our Lord sealed inside you, you are able to communicate with us telepathically. Are you going to train? Then I'm going to go home. 

The tiny fox vanished in a cloud of ninja smoke.

_**I could always speak to them like that, so I guess you have that ability now, Naruto, although it appears only to work with summons now.**_

_Fine. Let's get to training._

Naruto/Kyuubi summoned another, larger fox to train with. This fox came up to Naruto's waist, and had dark, purple-blue fur, and slitted orange eyes.

Need something? 

_**We're training, and we want to train with a partner, to get used to having an ally in battle, and to learn to work together.**_

A wise plan, master. 

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Jiraiya looked back at the Naruto every few minutes to check on his training. _The boy learns quickly, and seems to have a natural talent at teamwork. I haven't heard him speak so much as a word, and he moves in complete synchronization with that summon._

Jiraiya watched the blonde run across the water, making clones that laid down on the water, allowing the dark fox the also run across the water on their backs. The fox lashed out at imaginary enemies with its sharp claws, while Naruto sent clones to attack the same foe and threw kunai from a distance.

Jiraiya could not believe that this was just a genin. The blonde moved with such precision, able to control every movement with a skill that Jiraiya usually attributed to jounin. _How could Naruto have gotten so good without being recognized earlier? How could he have failed the Academy so many times and then immediately become so skilled? It's like he had a personal trainer, but I know that Kakashi didn't spend that much time with him._

Jiraiya shook his head to clear his thoughts. _I need to think of something for him to do tomorrow, or he might follow through on his threat. Who am I, fearing threats from a genin? Being a pervert has its disadvantages..._

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"The tournament starts in two days, Naruto. Are you sure that you want to do this?"

The blonde nodded.

"Fighting a sannin this soon before your matches might not be a good idea, even if I go easy on you."

Naruto/Kyuubi rolled their eyes. With the superior control of their body that came from their dual control, they had reflexes almost on par with a jounin, and the weights gave them speed and strength far beyond most mortals. **_Aside from Rock Lee and that Maito Gai._**

"If you're sure, Naruto, then I guess we should get started."

Both ninjas dropped into fighting stances.

The part of the forest they had chosen to train in was far from where anyone might run into them, and far from the women's bathhouse. Naruto/Kyuubi had been willing to fight at their usual spot at the springs, but Jiraiya did not think that destroying the bathhouse was a good idea.

"Fight with everything you have, Naruto, or I'll injure so badly that you'll miss the end of the chuunin exams!"

Naruto/Kyuubi summoned the dark purple-blue fox that he had been training with recently.

Yes, master? 

_**We are fighting that white-haired guy today. Do whatever you feel is necessary. He is incredibly good, so don't worry about injuring him too badly.**_

Right. 

Naruto/Kyuubi made two dozen clones, who immediately rushed at Jiraiya, kunai drawn. Once they got within striking distance, however, Jiraiya became a blur of motion, obliterating the clones almost instantly.

"Don't underestimate me, Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted.

Naruto/Kyuubi looked at the fox, and nodded.

_We'll go to the right, you go left._

I'm on it. 

Naruto/Kyuubi ran around to his right while the fox went left, before they both converged on the white-haired sannin. The fox slashed at Jiraiya's stomach with his sharp claws while Naruto aimed a powerful punch at the sannin's face. Jiraiya dodged both attacks easily, then kicked at Naruto's face.

The blonde blocked the kick with a weighted arm, the red wooden sandal clanking against the heavy metal. Jiraiya immediately pulled back to avoid another clawed paw. Naruto/Kyuubi used a burst of speed to appear behind the Jiraiya. The sannin spun around and blocked the earth-shattering punch with an arm, grunting in pain as he took the hit. _That's going to leave a mark._

Jiraiya flipped backwards, avoiding attacks from the fox and the blonde, bit his thumb, wiped the blood on his arm, and formed several seals. A large frog appeared, orange with purple blotches. Jiraiya jumped on top of the frog. "Hey, let heat things up."

The frog belched out a stream of oil, which Jiraiya immediately ignited with a basic fire jutsu.

The fox dodged too slowly, vanishing in ninja smoke when the fire struck his back legs. Sorry, master. 

Naruto/Kyuubi was still recovering from the punch that Jiraiya had blocked, and the wide spray of fiery oil was too far across for him to avoid while still wearing his weights. Without the time to drop his weights and still get away, there was only one way to avoid serious burns from the fire.

_**This may not be a good idea, but the fire could kill us or severely injure us if we took the hit.**_

Kyuubi released a large burst of demonic chakra, covering their body in a red, glowing armor that deflected the burning oil. Once the oil stopped coming, Naruto/Kyuubi jumped away from the burning patch of ground onto a branch, and let the armor fade. He quickly replaced the genjutsu that had been removed by the demonic chakra.

Jiraiya looked in amazement. _Kyuubi shielded him with chakra! How can the demon release his chakra so quickly, without Naruto becoming angry enough to use the chakra? And such control! The armor deflected the oil, and then dissipated when it was no longer needed! In every instance I ever heard of, a jinkuurichi that has begun using demonic chakra will continue to use it until forced to stop, but Naruto or Kyuubi used it only for a moment._

The sannin was brought out of his thoughts by a sudden attack from the blonde. Half in a daze, Jiraiya just blocked the attacks, not really aware of the pain that accompanied every block.

Naruto/Kyuubi stopped fighting when they saw that the sannin was not really paying attention. _I hope he doesn't do anything rash. We needed to deflect that attack, and that was the only way._

_**He wasn't kidding around about injuring us too badly to finish the exams.**_

Jiraiya snapped out of his reverie. "Naruto, I'm sorry to cut our training short, but I just remembered something I need to do. Take tomorrow and the rest of today off to rest for the exams. Good luck in the tournament," Jiraiya finished half-heartedly.

The sannin leaped away, towards Konoha. _Sarutobi needs to know about this._

Naruto/Kyuubi watched the white-haired sannin leave. **_Crap._**

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Naruto/Kyuubi knew that they would never be able to defeat Jiraiya without using enough demonic chakra to alert all of Konoha and all the visiting villages to the fight, and they also knew that they would be too weak after fighting to defend against the ninjas who would doubtlessly come looking for him. So they did the next best thing to killing Jiraiya.

Naruto/Kyuubi listened to Jiraiya speaking to the Hokage from outside the walls of the office. Since the Hokage's office had a window, they positioned themselves just out of sight under the window to listen in.

_I hope we don't have to leave Konoha. Where would we go?_

_**We would have to train by ourselves, but wait, they're talking.**_

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"... and that's what happened."

Jiraiya and Kakashi stood at attention as the Hokage thought. Jiraiya had arrived only a bit after Kakashi, and both had related the incident with Naruto.

Sarutobi sighed and puffed on his pipe. _How could anyone have so much control over demonic chakra? Naruto has had it since just after he was born, but he shouldn't be able to call it up at will and stop using it at will._

"Jiraiya, I have Kakashi keeping an eye on him, so if anything comes up, Kakashi will tell me. It is indeed disturbing that anyone could control demon chakra so well, but we can't be sure of what that means about Naruto yet. In the meantime, I want to hear what you've learned about Akatsuki. Kakashi, you may want to listen to this, since it concerns Naruto."

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "From what I heard, Akatsuki is planning to abduct Naruto during some sort of confusion late in the exams. They didn't say what the confusion would be, but I got the sense that they were merely taking advantage of a situation that was being planned by someone else. I'm not sure, but I think that we could be at risk for an attack from another village.

"As for Naruto, they have designated two men to capture him: Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi."

The Sandaime had a pained look on his face. _Two legendary S-class missing-nin, coming to capture a genin for his demon._ "Jiraiya, I want you to follow Naruto for the duration of the rest of the exams. Kakashi, you will still keep and eye on him, but I want Jiraiya to accompany Naruto as much as possible."

Sarutobi coughed. "And Kakashi, after the exams, there are some ANBU who would like your help on a murder case. You are both dismissed."

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Naruto/Kyuubi left quickly, making sure that he wouldn't be caught listening in on their conversation.

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The day arrived. The first round of the tournament would begin today. Ninjas, nobles and commoners scrambled to get seats in the stadium.

Naruto/Kyuubi walked down the aisle in the middle of the 'ninja' section, Jiraiya accompanying him. The demon duo had accepted his excuse for staying with them without complaint, even though 'cheering him on' was the sorriest excuse he had ever heard. There didn't seem to be an seats left, but just as they were about to sit down, they heard someone call their name.

"Hey, Naruto, you can sit by me!"

Yamanaka Ino waved and pointed at the space next to her on the bench, near the aisle. _If Sasuke won't sit by me, I can go for the other dark, cool, angsty guy. I heard a rumor that he killed over a dozen people on his first C-class mission! It can't be true, but he must be really good to get such a reputation!_

Naruto/Kyuubi sat next to the blonde-haired girl, and Jiraiya sat on the other side of Naruto.

"You got a girlfriend?" Jiraiya cooed. "And here I was, thinking you spent all your time training!"

Ino blushed slightly while Naruto/Kyuubi rolled their eyes.

"I-It's not that, I just thought he needed a seat!" Ino stammered.

"Sure you did," Jiraiya prodded. "And maybe you _needed_ Naruto to sit by you, hmm? Just couldn't resist his rugged good looks? His bright blonde hair? His dark, angsty attitude? His beautiful blue eyes?"

The half-demon shivered at being called beautiful by another guy.

Ino turned a brighter shade of red. "It wasn't that!"

"So you don't deny that you find him attractive?"

_**Why did we have to sit between these two?**_

_Because there weren't any other seats left._

_**Oh, yeah.**_

"Just because he's attractive doesn't mean that-"

Ino put a hand over her mouth as she realized what she had said. Jiraiya laughed loudly, thumping the blonde boy on the back. "You're a lucky man, Naruto!"

Ino fumed at the white-haired man's behavior. "Just who do you think you are?!"

Jiraiya stood up and put on his theatrical attitude. "I am the great frog-nin, the awe-inspiring sannin, the legendary-"

"Pervert." Jiraiya glared at the blonde boy.

"The legendary Jiraiya, you numbskull!"

"You are a pervert, though."

Ino fumed. A pervert was teasing her about boys. "You sick man! How dare you say those things when you are a closet pervert!"

Naruto/Kyuubi saw their chance to get a little breathing room from Jiraiya. "He's not a closet pervert, he's a self-designated super-pervert." Ignoring Jiraiya's pleading look, the dark ninja continued. "He trains me over by the women's bathhouse so that he can peep while I practice."

Ino looked about ready to explode.

"Did I mention he takes notes on what he sees so he can write dirty books?"

"PERVERT!!!" Jiraiya bolted, Ino hot on his heels.

Naruto/Kyuubi sprawled out on the now-open space on the bench. _That was too easy._

_**Most mortals are like that. You just have to find the right leverage.**_

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End of chapter. Longer chapter mandatory reviewing! You think I don't know when you read this and leave without reviewing?! Think again!!! All who read without reviewing will be hunted down ans slaughtered! Seriously, though, review. Nargles will be distributed to reviewers. If I get at least as many reviews as I did on the first longer chapter I posted, (74 reviews), I will define nargles. So leave a nice review, or at least a tribute.


	23. Discovered!

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... More nargles to my faithful reviewers! tosses generous amounts of nargles to reviewers Unfortunately, you guys were just barely short of the review goal, so nargles must remain undefined. But the same thing goes this week! 74+ reviews on this chapter before next posting definition of nargles. And thanks to Amaya no Hime, for an interesting idea for Ino, which you will all see in this chapter. It stops short of soul-devouring, but is so close, and sets things up so nicely, that I think you all will like it. Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

Summon speech (Good idea, Ghostboy814. Underlining does make it easier to see.)

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Just before the matches were to begin, Jiraiya and Ino returned, forcing the blonde boy to sit up from his prone position. Jiraiya sat on one side of Naruto/Kyuubi, and Ino sat on the other.

The white-haired sannin nursed a black eye, occasionally moaning about cruel women, while Ino smirked and sat quietly.

A voice rang out over the loudspeakers. Yes, they have loudspeakers. At least in my fic, they do. "Welcome to the final round of the chuunin exams! Those who are participating should be ready, as your name could be called at any time. Those who are watching, please be aware that you are not allowed to directly influence any fight in any way. You may cheer, jeer, shout, and otherwise make a fool out of yourself, but you will refrain from throwing, kicking, or in any way moving any object into the arena, and you will also refrain from entering the arena yourself. Anyone seen violating these rules will be hunted down by ANBU and killed immediately."

The crowd gasped. A bit of static sounded as voices in the background seemed to speak rapidly.

"Sorry, anyone violating the rules will be removed from the arena and not allowed to return. You will not be killed. Disregard the earlier statement."

The crowd murmured uneasily.

"The first match will be: Nara Shikamaru against Sabaku no Temari."

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Sarutobi smiled. The announcer had done it brilliantly. Last year, when only the threat of removal had been issued, the last match had been full of people throwing things, since they were about to leave anyway. Some people had even used that as a way of leaving the stadium more quickly. That had seriously compromised security, so this year, they had resolved to make things different. With any luck, they wouldn't have any problems this year.

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Nara Shikamaru rolled his eyes. _Just my luck that I'd be chosen to go first. And to fight against a woman, no less. So troublesome. Why don't I ever get to fight any men?_ The shadow-user dropped into the arena, across from where Temari was already waiting. A chuunin stood off on one side of the dirt stadium, apparently functioning as the examiner.

"Hajime!"

Temari smirked, and swung her fan open. _I heard this guy is smart, so I'll finish him quickly, before he can get some plan cooked up in that pineapple-shaped head of his._

The sand-nin swung her fan, sending a cutting gust of wind across the ground. Shikamaru jumped to the side and avoided the attack. He kept running until he reached some trees that grew on one side of the enclosed fighting area.

Temari sighed. _His brilliant plan is to run away? Pathetic. I can't see him in there, but I can blast the trees into toothpicks and pick his body out. Shame to waste such a handsome-_

Temari shook her head. She did not have time for such thoughts.

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Shikamaru, hidden from the sand kunoichi, dug underground. He began to carve a tunnel through the ground, toward the unsuspecting Temari. _So troublesome. But it's the easiest way that has a good chance of succeeding._

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Temari flicked her wrist and sent a strong wind into the trees. "Come out, little leaf! I know you're in there! Don't think you can just hide until I come in for close combat!" Temari knew that everyone knew her weakness at close combat. "I can blast those trees all day!"

No response. Temari frowned. _This is supposed to be a fighting match, not a game of hide-and-go-seek_. Temari sent a forceful blast of air at a single tree, spraying leaves everywhere. If Shikamaru was in there, he was doing a good job hiding it.

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Meanwhile, Shikamaru stopped digging. _Time for a little break. Digging is so troublesome._

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Temari was growing more and more frustrated. She had hit every tree at least once, but apparently that lazy bum was hiding behind the tree trunks. _Why do I always end up in situations like this?_ She wondered if she should go in a little closer.

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Shikamaru finished his tunnel. The dirt over the end of the tunnel was held up only by a few twigs._ Once Temari walks over to investigate, she'll fall in here, I can grab her fan and hide it while she's trying to get out, then I can fight her without her annoying wind powers. I saw how effective that fan is during Tenten's match, and I don't need to experience it personally._

Shikamaru sat to wait. She would come eventually.

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Temari stared at the trees she had been blasting for the past half and hour. _Maybe I overestimated this guy. Maybe he's too scared to come out, or maybe he's already unconscious or dead and he's just stuck in a tree branch._

Temari sighed. It probably wasn't a good idea, but there was only one thing to do. She walked toward the trees to investigate.

Suddenly, the ground underneath her gave way, and she fell into a pit. She screamed involuntarily as she dropped into the dark underground pit. She saw a dark shape move across the ground of the pit, then found that she could not move her body.

"Shadow Imitation Technique, success."

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Shikamaru looked at the girl pityingly. _Too bad it has to end this way for her._ He reached down and picked up the fan, which Temari had dropped. The sand-nin imitated his movements, but had nothing to grab. Shikamaru raised the fan over his head. Temari imitated him. Then Shikamaru brought it down onto the kunoichi's head.

It did not knock her out. _So troublesome._ Shikamaru beat her senseless, then carried her body back to the surface. The examiner rushed over, and seeing that Temari was unconscious, gave a sign to someone in the stands.

The loudspeaker proclaimed, "Winner, Nara Shikamaru!"

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Naruto/Kyuubi sat with amused look on their face. **_Attacking from underground, hmm?_**

_Seemed to work pretty well._

_**We should look into that sometime.**_

The strange pair was interrupted by the loudspeakers. "Next match, Yamanaka Ino vs. Uzamaki Naruto!"

The demon duo rolled their eyes. After the match with Lee, this would be a breeze.

Ino winked at the blonde boy. "Looks like its you and me! Come on, Naruto!"

The mind-walker pranced down into the stadium. Naruto/Kyuubi leaped into the air and landed in the arena, then leaped again to place themselves far on the opposite side from Ino. They turned to face her.

Ino looked at the blonde boy. _Why is he always so quiet? I remember when he used to be all hyper, back when I chased Sasuke just to spite Sakura. But then he got all quiet. And what could possibly have motivated him to study? He obviously was paying attention in class; I've heard of how good he is as a ninja, but why didn't he get better grades? How could he improve to quickly?_

Ino steeled herself for the coming fight. _I have to end this soon, while he still underestimates me. There is no way I can fight against the sort of speed I saw him use in his match against Lee. But if I do it correctly, no one will ever call me weak again, after I beat someone on par with that crazy Rock Lee._

The examiner made a sign to the announcer. The loudspeakers crackled to life again. "Hajime!"

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Naruto/Kyuubi jogged toward Ino at the start of the match. At least, it was jogging for them, thought everyone in the stadium who had not seen his first match thought he was sprinting as fast as he could possibly go. Weight training will do that for you.

The demon duo conferred with one another.

_**What do you think? Kick her in the stomach and uppercut her face when she doubles over?**_

_Could work. I personally like a flying high kick to send her across the arena, then leap into the air and body slam her. With the weights on, that could end the match right there._

_**Yes, but don't we want to use this match for practice? Then again, she is a long ways from where we are...**_

_Exactly. Beating up a helpless genin is not going to improve our fighting skills._

Suddenly they put on a burst of speed, blurred over to Ino and leaped in for the flying high kick. Ino sailed across the arena, skidding on the ground several times before coming to a stop a few yards from the wall.

Naruto/Kyuubi jumped high into the air, aiming to land squarely on the blonde girl.

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Ino couldn't believe how fast Naruto had suddenly gotten. _He was running so fast, then suddenly he appeared in front of me!_ Once she came to a stop, she opened her eyes, which she had reflexively closed when skidding across the dirt. _He's above me! He's going to land on me with all those weights!_

There was not enough time to dodge, as hurt as she was after that kick. But as she saw Naruto fall, one last idea occurred to her. _He can't change direction easily in mid-air! So I know where to aim!_ Ino formed several seals that were so familiar to her, and completed her trademark ninjutsu, Mind-Body Transfer Technique.

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Naruto/Kyuubi smirked to themselves as they fell. The girl would be to stunned from the kick to move out of the way in time, and there was not much that she could do, other than...

_Oh crap. Kyuubi! She using that technique! That mind-control thing!_

_**Of course! Why didn't we think of that! We've got to move!**_

They formed a shadow clone, and tried to use it to get away from the Yamanaka's famous technique, but could not move fast enough in mid-air to evade the blonde girl's aim. All their efforts succeeded only in averting their body from crushing the girl as they had intended. Instead, it landed just beside her, making a small crater in the ground, and sending a cloud of dust into the air.

_**Wait, Naruto, I have an idea!**_

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Ino found herself in Naruto's mind. _Yes! I did it!_ She quickly looked around for the metaphysical chair that represented control of the body. She was surprised when she could not see it. _Wow, his mind is huge. How could his mind be similar to the sewers? And how could it possibly have so many passages?_

Ino wandered aimlessly through the dark corridors of Naruto's mind, until she came upon a small room. _Aha! There's the chair! Now all I have to do is formally surrender as Naruto, then return to my own body._

But when she stepped forward, she noticed that Naruto was not in the chair. Nor was there any sign of him any where around the chair. There was only a glowing orange mist that pooled in the chair, and trailed away and around a corner into a larger room. _What?! I just saw him in the outside world, and since time moves slowly in people's minds, there is no way he could have done some jutsu in the meantime to cancel my technique. But how could he have vanished?_

Ino whirled around when she heard a footstep. There stood Naruto, dressed in all black, looking at her. _What?!! How can he be out of the chair?! And looking at me?! No one is supposed to be conscious within their mind!!! How can he be here?!!_

Ino was too stunned to even react when Naruto walked over and grabbed her wrist. "Come over here, Ino. There's someone I want you to meet." Naruto's voice was mockingly cheerful, edged with sarcasm. He began pulling her toward the large room.

"What- How can you be here?! No one is conscious within their own mind! No one!!!" Ino tried to get away, but Naruto held her in a vice-like grip, which did not hurt, although she thought that it should have.

Then it hit her. "Wait, you want me to meet someone?! You have someone else in here?!!" Ino began crying hysterically, pulling desperately away from the dark ninja, but to no avail.

As they rounded the corner, Ino saw a gigantic cage with enormous iron bars, and a sign on it, written in kanji. 'Death God Demon Seal'

Ino looked around frantically for anything to help her escape, but the room was empty, except for the ominous cage. As they approached the bars, Ino noticed a vast shape on the other side. A huge, orange fox sat like a statue, looking off into the distance. It glowed softly with a sickly red-orange light. Ino noticed the trail of orange mist led to the fox's tail.

Ino felt a strange calm come over her. _Is this what it is like to accept death?_

Ino stared at the fox as Naruto led her up to the bars. _It looks just like a person does when they are controlling the body normally in their chair. But there is no way that it could possibly control the body from in there, unless... Of course! That mist is its chakra, and it controls the body using the chakra! But, what is it? And why would Naruto let it control his body? This fox looks sort of familiar, like I've seen it in a dream, or a nightmare, or like I saw it in a picture once, long ago._

They stopped in front of the bars of the cage. Naruto shouted, "Hey, Kyuubi! You ready?!"

Ino froze. _Did he saw Kyuubi?! As in the demon that terrorized Konoha almost fourteen years ago? It was a giant creature, it was... a fox!!! but how can it be here! The Yondaime gave his life to kill it! How could it suddenly appear in Naruto's mind?!_

The fox suddenly jerked its head down to look at the two humans.

**You have her? Good. Throw her in here. We couldn't let her control you, and we certainly can't let her leave after seeing me, so there is only one possible solution.**

Ino began struggling violently, but Naruto's toned muscles vastly outmatched her small strength. She screamed, "Leave me alone! You don't have to kill me! I won't tell anyone!"

Naruto threw her between the bars, which were spaced narrowly enough to prevent Kyuubi from getting out, but wide enough to allow humans to pass through easily.

Ino screamed as Kyuubi lunged down, mouth open wide.

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Kyuubi lunged down and bit the foolish kunoichi in half. Or, at least he tried to. When he bit into the girl, he felt a slight resistance to his fangs, which shattered easily, releasing a meager bit of chakra, but when he tried to bite off his mouthful to devour her, he felt nothing.

The demon fox looked down to see Ino, curled into the fetal position, still quivering in fear. Kyuubi bent down and attempted to bite her again. He felt nothing.

**What? How can you resist my power?**

Ino opened her eyes, and saw the giant fox standing overhead, looking at her quizzically. _I'm alive. I'm still alive. But how? I saw him come down to bite me._

Ino slowly got onto her feet. She began to walk back toward the bars of the cage, but jumped and shrieked when she saw one of Kyuubi's paws pass through her from behind. _His paw went right through me! So, that means..._

Ino turned to face the demon lord. "You can't touch me, can you?"

The fox growled and grimaced, but did nothing further. Ino ran out fo the cage and toward the chair leaving a very confused fox and a stunned Naruto behind. She quickly sat in the chair and focused past the mind, as she had been taught to.

She found herself lying next to her own body. She stood up, but when she tried to speak, she suddenly felt herself jerked out of reality.

Naruto threw Ino across the room of his mind. She landed in a heap over in the corner. He watched her while a trail of orange chakra collected in the chair once more. He watched over her while Kyuubi commanded the body, was declared victor, and leapt back into the seating area.

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Naruto walked over to the crying Ino that still sat against the wall in his mind. _We have to ensure our safety. We have to ensure our safety. I can do this_. Naruto monotoned, "I'm sorry, Ino. We can't let you live."

Ino looked up wildly, her red eyes blazing. "You wouldn't!"

When she saw the neutral expression on his face, she knew that he was really going to kill her. She jumped to her feet.

Naruto smashed her face with a bone-crushing punch, aiming to kill with a single blow.

Ino recoiled from the punch, but felt no pain. She slapped the stunned Naruto across the face as hard as she could, but Naruto felt no pain.

They stared at each other, each realizing from the looks of the other's face that they had not done any damage at all.

Naruto spoke. "Well, I guess we have to let you live. But we won't let you leave."

Ino watched as Naruto walked over to the chair and sat on one side of it, taking only half-control of the body, leaving Kyuubi with the other half. She heard faint, echoed voices speaking, which she had been told only happened in the minds of the insane. But after a moment, she recognized them as Naruto and Kyuubi. Although she could not make out most of what they said, she heard her name mentioned several times.

Ino checked to see how much chakra she had left. She felt nothing. Feeling slightly panicky, she felt for even a shred of chakra. Nothing. Then she remembered the strange feeling she had gotten when Kyuubi bit her. She had lost all of her chakra.

Ino started to cry again. She was stuck in a mind with a cold-hearted boy and a bloodthirsty demon.

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After several minutes, Ino heard Naruto get off the chair, another thing that was supposed to be impossible. She sat slumped in the same corner of Naruto's mind, feeling strangely heavy, since usually her technique made her feel extraordinarily light when she was in another's mind. She looked up to see Naruto staring down at her through the slit in his mask.

Naruto turned away from her, seeming vaguely uncomfortable. "I'm... sorry it ended that way. We didn't expect you to use that technique of yours."

Ino spoke softly. "Naruto, I'm trapped in your mind. I lost all of my chakra when..." she shuddered, "_He_ bit me. I can't leave."

Naruto shifted uneasily. "I'm... sorry. We didn't mean for things to happen like this. I... we... I don't know what to do."

Ino looked at Naruto's profile, difficult to see against the dark background of his mind. _Why does he sound so nervous? He was trying to kill me not very long ago._ Ino began to cry silently. _What did I do to deserve this?_

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While Naruto was otherwise occupied, Neji easily defeated Kankurou, whose puppet could not move fast enough to chase the Hyuuga prodigy. The next match was announced.

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara!"

The two ninja made their way to the arena, facing each other across the wide field. The examiner glanced at them, then signed to the announcer, who shouted, "Hajime!"

Sasuke knew better than to try and try taijutsu. The sand that constantly surrounded the insomniac would simply bat him into a wall as it had done to Kiba. That left ninjutsu, since Sasuke was not particularly skilled at genjutsu.

Sasuke formed several seals, and launched a large fireball at the stoic sand-nin. The sand blocked the fireball. Sasuke shot several smaller fireballs. They too were blocked by the absolute defense of sand.

Sasuke frowned._ How can I beat a guy if I cannot penetrate his sand? That's it! Penetrate the sand with the Chidori, then follow up when his defenses will hopefully have crumbled!_ Sasuke made three quick seals, then began charging his sensei's one original technique. The sound like a flock of small birds filled the arena, rising in pitch and volume as the Chidori acquired more and more energy.

Sasuke charged at Gaara. As expected, the sand rose to defend him, but Sasuke thrust forward with the attack anyway. The Chidori pierced the sand like a hot knife trough butter, letting Sasuke arm reach just far enough to touch the insomniac.

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Gaara looked down at his shoulder. The strange attack had struck him, causing him to bleed. Gaara gasped. "Blood?! _MY_ BLOOD?!!"

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Temari could see the attack pierce the shield of sand, and since she was positioned slightly behind Gaara, she could see the attack hit. She heard her little brother's surprised exclamation. _Oh, crap. There goes the plan. Gaara's going to release Shukaku, and that Kabuto guy will have to start early, and that will make those sound people unhappy._

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Gaara's sand fell to the ground around him. Sasuke lunged forward to take advantage of the suddenly crumbling defense, punching his opponent in the face.

Sasuke grimaced in pain and jumped away from the sand-nin, clutching his fist. _That was like punching a rock! What is that guy made of?_ Sasuke looked up, and saw the small cracks that spread from where he had punched Gaara. _What the- He is made of rock! Or maybe sand..._

Sasuke suddenly focused on the sand, which had begun to move again. The sand rose into the air, slowly at first, then gaining speed as it formed a sphere around the crazed sand-nin. Sasuke saw his chance to attack. He quickly summoned his final Chidori, for it would be th final, Kakashi having warned him to not attempt more than two, and ran towards the sphere of sand.

Just before he reached it, however, a giant, clawed hand shot out of the sand, crushing Sasuke in its clutches.

Sasuke tried to wriggle free, but to no avail. The hand squeezed harder. Sasuke heard bones break, heard organs rupture. The hand suddenly clenched into a fist, splattering Sasuke all over the area with a sickening _squish_.

The crown screamed, and began to run out of the stadium, only to fall suddenly into sleep as Temari had predicted.

The sand ball around Gaara moved to reveal his transformation into a half-human, half-sand creature. Seeing Konoha jounin moving around the stadium, he leapt into the stands.

"BLOOD! YOU WILL PAY FOR MY BLOOD WITH YOURS!!!"

Temari decided that the plan did not call for her to be anywhere near Gaara, and quickly left the stadium.

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Naruto/Kyuubi looked around, seeing people fall unconscious for no apparent reason. **_What is this? Some sort of genjutsu?_**

_Then why aren't we affected._

_**It probably has something to do with me.**_

_We need to stop that Gaara guy. He'll kill everyone if we don't stop him._

_**Why is that our concern?**_

A loud crash sounded from across the village. Naruto/Kyuubi looked over the stadium walls to see three giant snakes crushing the village walls into dust.

_The village is under attack, and the more Konoha ninja we save, the less likely we are to die._

_**Right. Let's do this, kit.**_

But before they could move, a tall, blonde man appeared in front of them. "What did you do to my daughter?!"

Naruto/Kyuubi stared at the man in confusion. "The village is under attack, mortal! Get out of my way!"

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Inoishi frowned. _I'll just have to do this the hard way. Since he obviously wouldn't know if Ino is still in his mind, I'll just look._

Inoishi began to make seals for one of the Yamanaka family techniques, which would allow him to see into the boy's mind. Seeing the boy drop into a fighting stance, Inoishi said, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you, yet. I just need to see what happened to my daughter."

Naruto/Kyuubi hesitated.

In that moment, Inoishi completed the technique, and looked into Naruto mind.

He saw Naruto, as expected, but the boy was sitting over on one side of the chair, the other side being filled with an orange mist that led to...

_The Kyuubi! The Kyuubi has control over Naruto's body! The rumor I heard was true! Naruto is really influenced by the demon to the point of possession!_

Then Inoishi saw Ino, slumped against a wall in the dank corridors of Naruto's mind, crying.

_What?! Why is she over there?_

Looking closer, Inoishi saw the tell-tale signs of the one condition that could not be fixed. Ino was out of chakra, and trapped in the Kyuubi-brat's mind.

Inoishi pulled back out, since he could not speak to his daughter using that technique.

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In the few moments of the technique, Naruto/Kyuubi had decided that they didn't want the man who seemed to be Ino's father using any technique on them, unaware that Inoishi had already learned too much.

"Yamanaka-san, there are more pressing matters to attend to," Naruto/Kyuubi said in an overly formal fashion, hoping to placate the man for now.

Suddenly they saw the man's eyes bug out. "DEMON! THE DEMON HAS POSSESSED HIM!!!" The blonde man took off at an impressive speed.

The demon and boy were about to continue towards the maddened Gaara, who was currently fighting over a dozen Konoha ninja, when it finally sank in.

_**He knows! He's going to tell the others!**_

_He knows! He's going to tell the others!_

_**Kill him!!! Quickly!!!**_

_Hurry! He's getting away!_

They ran after Ino's father at top speed. An unfortunate sound-nin tried to stop them, only to be struck in the eyes with a pair of kunai. He howled in agony, blind to the black blur that rushed past him.

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Inoishi ran as fast as he could. Not only did he need to outrun the demon, he needed to tell the Hokage at once. _Where is the Hokage? He isn't in the box seats, but I can't stop to look. Maybe he's fighting outside the stadium._ Inoishi ran out of the stadium, fully aware of the pair of blood-red eyes that glared at him from behind, quickly making up for the blonde man's head start.

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End of chapter. If you didn't notice, things are coming to a close. It kind of surprised me; I expected this to go for a while longer, but all of the sudden I found myself writing what you all see above here. It was like it wasn't even me who was writing it. Strange.

I think that the next chapter will be the last. It will be at least this long, but probably longer. It may not come out by Saturday, but I will try to make it worth the wait. Lots of fighting coming up in the last chapter, lots of death, and lots of demonic brutality, with possibly a small taste of NaruIno before the end.

Thanks to all of you guys who have been reading, and extra thanks to those who reviewed.

Please review.


	24. The Last Stand

AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Once more, I bestow nargles upon my faithful reviewers! tosses generous amounts of nargles to reviewers If you didn't get it before, yes, Sasuke is dead. He is splattered all over the stadium. I got a surprising number of reviews wondering if he was still alive. Trust me, no one survives that. Anyway, this is the final chapter of Possession. I hope you guys have liked the story. Enjoy this chapter!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

_thought / talking in mind_

"**Demon speech"**

_**Demon thought / talking in mind**_

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Naruto/Kyuubi ran after Inoishi. _**There is no way we can let him get away. He knows! Somehow, he knows!**_

_Then drop the stupid weights!_

They quickly dropped their weights as they ran, but before they could take advantage of their new speed, a pair of ninja appeared in front of him, faces hidden under wide-brimmed hats, and bodies hidden by long, black cloaks with designs of red clouds painted on. Naruto/Kyuubi stopped dead in their tracks. Even at several feet away, they could feel the power that these men possessed.

The shorter man looked up, his red eyes seeming to glow from underneath the hat. "Naruto-kun, come with us."

"Get out of my way. I need to stop that man."

Naruto/Kyuubi tried to move around them, but the taller man stepped in front of him, looking up to reveal his blue face with gill-markings on the cheeks. "There is no longer any need to hide your true identity. Our organization wishes you to come with us for that very reason."

The blonde boy snarled. "You want us for our power? Do you think we are stupid? You don't want our help. Ninja of your caliber could only be seeking to gain power, not to gain people. You don't need help."

The red-eyed man smirked. "Then I guess there is no reason to prolong this conversation. Kisame, if you would, please."

"Of course, Itachi. Should I remove one or both of his legs?"

Seeing that the time of hiding was over, Kyuubi released a bit of demonic chakra, causing his eyes to turn blood-red, and his pupils to lengthen into slits. His whisker markings lengthened and thickened, and his canine teeth grew slightly longer. An orange aura surrounded him. "**You won't be removing anything! Die, mortal!"**

Naruto/Kyuubi leaped at Kisame with a blinding speed, aiming to rake his claws across the man's face. Kisame dodged, and swatted Naruto away with a large, long object that was covered in bandages.

Naruto/Kyuubi flipped and landed on his feet, then released even more chakra, forming the armor of demonic chakra. Kyuubi focused more chakra into healing Naruto's body, which had begun to bleed slightly from the amount of chaotic chakra flowing through it.

The blonde leaped into the air. Kisame prepared for the boy to land, drawing his weapon back for another swing, but suddenly a large hand of fiery chakra reached down and grabbed him. Kisame grunted in pain as he burned in the heat of demonic chakra, before twisting free of the hand's grasp.

"That's enough. Come with us," Kisame commanded, then unwrapped his weapon, revealing a long, jagged sword, which immediately began sucking in Kyuubi's chakra.

Naruto/Kyuubi released even more chakra, trying to counteract the sword's power. The sword appeared to be a black hole, sucking in a vast amount of destructive chakra. Winds whipped around Kisame from the large amount of chakra moving through the air.

The blue man waited patiently. Eventually, the boy would realize the futility of trying to use that chakra with an uncovered Samehada nearby.

Naruto/Kyuubi pumped more and more chakra out, snickering when he saw the sword begin to glow orange. Kisame stared at the boy, unaware of his sword's change.

In a few seconds, the sword began to shine with an orange light. Kisame looked down at the sword, wondering what it could possibly be doing. Then Samehada exploded into shrapnel, shards of it flying in all directions, flames of demonic chakra released into the air. Kisame, now a pincushion for what was once his sword, gestured for Itachi to capture the boy.

Naruto/Kyuubi, now freed from the power of Samehada, were engulfed in a massive storm of demonic chakra due to the amount of it they had been using to counter the sword. They formed a giant, clawed hand out of the chakra, and pulled it back to strike.

Itachi flickered and appeared behind them, moving at a speed that would put Rock Lee to shame. The demon duo, failing to see the red-eyed ninja, attacked the injured Kisame instead. Kisame, who had assumed that the boy would be busy with Itachi, never saw it coming.

The hand enveloped the shark-man in a crushing grip, channeling an enormous amount of chakra. Kisame writhed and struggled in vain, his blood beginning to boil in his veins.

Itachi, deciding that he should probably save his partner, threw a kunai at the back of Naruto/Kyuubi's head.

It was deflected by the demonic chakra.

Frowning, Itachi instead blew a large fireball at the boy.

It was deflected by the demonic chakra.

Itachi caused a wave of water to crash toward the boy.

The water turned to steam as it approached Naruto/Kyuubi, who was therefore never even touched by the wave.

Itachi sent a clone to attack the boy.

It poofed out of existence upon coming closer than ten feet from the boy, because of the raging inferno of demonic chakra.

Naruto/Kyuubi dropped Kisame's charred body to the ground, and turned to face Itachi. The blonde looked into Itachi's eyes. Itachi looked right back, and decided that it was time to end the fight.

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Suddenly, Naruto was strapped to a large, wooden cross, on a dirt plain, underneath a red sky. Itachi stood in front of him, holding a short katana.

The nuke-nin smirked slightly. Overconfident jinkuurichi were so predictable, and although he had never used the Tsukyome (sp?) on one before, it would make this much easier, since he was going to have to carry Kisame for a while. But just before Itachi began his customary speech, he sensed a presence behind him. He looked back, and saw a very large, very annoyed Kyuubi no kitsune.

Itachi frowned. Perhaps this was why the leader had suggested that Itachi refrain from using this ability on demon hosts. Itachi jumped out of the way as a large paw smashed the ground where he had just been, barely missing Naruto.

Itachi sighed. Although he was certainly not the Yondaime's equal, this was his genjutsu, and he created the rules for this world. And now the rules stated that Kyuubi would be covered in chains that were immune to demonic chakra, and prevented the one they held from using that chakra.

Suddenly, Kyuubi was covered in chains. Kyuubi snarled, and snapped the chains with a harsh jerk.

Itachi modified his decision. Kyuubi would be covered in _unbreakable_ chains that were immune to demonic chakra and prevented the one they held from using that chakra.

Kyuubi was covered in chains again. The demon growled, and thrashed about, shaking the genjutsu world with his struggles. Itachi smirked. Now, as for the boy-

Kyuubi snapped the chains with a loud _crack_. Itachi stared wide-eyed at the demon, who was now engulfed in flames of demonic chakra.

Itachi jumped backwards, barely avoiding the giant paw that crushed the ground into dust. Itachi began jogging backwards, his mind racing to think of a way to defeat the nine-tailed fox.

Suddenly, Itachi felt uncharacteristically clumsy when he tripped over something, falling onto his back. He quickly got up and continued jogging backward at an increased rate. Jogging at his own speed, of course, which was fast enough to stay away from the angry demon that was chasing him. As he ran, he looked back to see what marred the usually smooth surface of his genjutsu world.

Itachi saw Kyuubi race past a young girl, dressed in purple, with long blonde hair. The girl, Ino, began to get up, startled by the sudden disturbance.

Itachi raised an eyebrow as he ran. How many entities did Naruto have in his mind?

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Ino slowly got to her feet, not recognizing her surroundings. _This isn't Naruto's mind, is it? It looks too different._ Ino looked to the one side, where she heard a lot of noise. There, she saw the large demon fox, running free, after a small man.

Ino ran in the other direction, away from the fox. Soon, the fox was out fo sight, and she slowed to a jog, unsure of where she was going, but with the vague feeling that she needed to keep moving.

In a short time, she saw Naruto, chained to a wooden cross. She slowed down and approached him. "Naruto?"

The boy looked up. "Ino? How did you get here?"

"I don't know. I just woke up here. How did we get here? And where is here?"

"Um... I don't know how we got here. That guy just looked at us, and then we were here, and I was tied up. And... I don't know where here is. Hey, if it's not too much trouble, could you let me down from here."

Ino glared at him. "You get me stuck in your mind with a giant demon, forever cut off from the world, then somehow teleport me to some weird place with a red sky, and you have the nerve to ask for my help?!"

"Um... Yes."

Ino snorted. It seemed that Naruto still retained some measure of his sense of humor from long ago. Ino undid the chains, allowing Naruto to drop to the ground.

"Thanks, Ino."

"Don't thank me. Get us out of here!"

Naruto looked around. "Well, I would guess that to do that, we would need some help from the guy who got us here. Or maybe this is some trick, like a genjutsu, and killing him would dispel it. Or maybe it will wear off after a while. But at any rate, Kyuubi as chasing that guy, so- Wait. Here they come again."

Far off, towards the horizon, they saw the large silhouette of the Kyuubi, hardly visible against the red sky, running towards them. As it got closer, they saw the small man at its feet, his cloak appearing slightly singed in places. Kyuubi shot another jet of demon fire at the small nuke-nin, who easily dodged it as he ran.

Ino squeaked and hid behind Naruto. Even she could feel the power that this man wielded

Naruto stepped forward and made 50 shadow clones. Ino watched as the man looked at the clones, then looked back at the fox that was chasing him. The man made a seal, and the world became dark.

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Ino found herself back in Naruto's mind, on the floor where she had been before. She saw Naruto on the chair, sitting lopsidedly as he shared it with a portion of the orange mist.

_It looks like I'm back in Naruto's mind._ Strangely, this was a comforting thought after seeing the strange land that she had just left. Ino saw Naruto's face clench in concentration, even in his mind. What was going on out there?

Ino heard a quiet cracking sound, and looked behind her. A small crack appeared on the stone wall behind her. She listened silently, and heard several more cracking sounds, coming from all over Naruto's mind. Ino frowned. _What's going on? Why are the walls breaking?_

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Naruto/Kyuubi lunged at Itachi, not really surprised when the quick man evaded his grasp. They spun around to keep Itachi in view, and flung out a hand of chakra to grab him. They needed to finish this fight quickly, since they could already feel their body deteriorating from the amount of demonic chakra flowing through it.

Itachi dodged the hand, then kept moving as the hand followed him down the streets of Konoha. Itachi finally turned around made a quick seal. He appeared to flicker, but then formed several more seals and blew black flames at the giant hand, now stretched over 50 feet from Naruto.

The flames had no effect on the hand, which quickly closed over the black and red cloak. A sudden explosion blew the hand into nothingness, and the real Itachi leapt to attack the blonde boy from behind, holding a poisoned kunai.

Naruto/Kyuubi frowned when their hand was dispelled by the explosion. _**What was that? Where did he go?**_

_Behind us!_

Itachi was upon them too quickly for them to react. He raised the kunai high, and plunged it into Naruto's back, the poison quickly subduing the demon host, allowing Itachi an easy victory.

At least, that was Itachi's plan.

Itachi stabbed the kunai toward Naruto's back, only to have it repelled by the armor of chakra. Itachi grimaced as his hand was scorched by the Kyuubi's poisonous chakra. As he felt the poison enter his veins, he realized that Kisame was most likely already dead.

Itachi frowned. This was supposed to be an easy catch, a quick genin-napping. Itachi leaped back to avoid a large blast of chakra that sprang from the boy's back. _This genin is very skilled with his demonic chakra. I wonder if he has used it often, or if he being controlled by the demon._

Suddenly, Itachi saw the boy form a seal. A hundred shadow clones appeared, each made of the demon's burning chakra. Several clones jumped at Itachi, while the rest moved to surround him.

Itachi blew black flames at the clones, only to find that this was being blocked by a slight armor that covered each of the clones. One clone vanished as the flames pierced his armor, but the rest lashed out at Itachi as they came within range, using demonic claws to slash, or vicious fangs to try and bite.

Itachi blocked a slash with his arm, preventing it from reaching his neck. The claws dug into his arm, severing arteries, and poisoning his blood with even more demon chakra. Itachi whirled and blocked and stabbed, but every clone that he dispatched was replaced by two from the sidelines.

Suddenly, Itachi saw the clones around him freeze for a mere moment, and he quickly stabbed each of them with a kunai, instantly dispelling them. Itachi turned to face where he had last seen the original demon boy.

Itachi's eyes grew wide as he saw a giant sphere of demonic energy sizzling through the air, straight at him. There was no chance of evading the mountain-sized fireball, which tore and incinerated the ground underneath it, as well as any houses, shops, or other material things that it encountered as it flew toward the nuke-nin.

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan, looking at the world with his true vision one last time, before the crackling ball of destruction overtook him, instantly annihilating any trace of his existence.

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The large group of sound-nin cheered when it saw the Konoha ninjas facing it suddenly panic and flee. There was nothing more terrifying than the elite ninjas of the Sound. Obviously, those stupid leaf-nins-

Several sound-nins turned around as they heard a crackling sound from behind them. They had just enough time to gape in horror, before they were engulfed in the massive inferno of Kyuubi's chakra.

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Inside the Sound Four's barrier, Sarutobi struggled to pull out Orochimaru's soul, trying to stay alive long enough to see the snake-nin's demise.

Orochimaru pulled back with all his might. He was not going to let this old man win. This was supposed to be easy, but the geezer just had to prevent the summoning of the Fourth, didn't he?

Suddenly, Orochimaru noticed a sudden lack of effort from the Third Hokage. "What's the matter, old man? Getting tired?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly. "It was nice to see you again, Orochimaru, although I wish it were under different circumstances."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. Was the old man getting so senile as to be distracted from the fight so easily? Orochimaru felt his soul slowly returning to his body.

The Sandaime spoke again. "The barrier that your servants have created works by reflecting any physical material, and is enhanced by its ability to set that material on fire. That keeps almost all attacks from penetrating its walls. You were lucky that no one figured out that fire would pass right through it. But now it is my turn to be lucky. I had already planned to die today, but now I can be certain that you will follow me to the afterlife. Once your body is destroyed, you and I have an appointment with Shinigami."

Orochimaru frowned. "What do you have up your sleeve, old-"

Orochimaru looked back when he heard a loud sizzling sound. His eyes widened in sudden realization of his death, just before he was utterly destroyed by the titanic sphere of evil chakra that passed through the barrier like it was not even there. The Sound Four perished with him, as well as most of those who had been watching the battle.

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Ino was getting worried. It was weird enough when the orange mist that must have been the demon's chakra had suddenly flown out of the cage and filled almost all of Naruto's mind. But now the stonework of Naruto's mind was falling apart. Bits of rock fell from the ceiling constantly, and cracks spread rapidly across every stone on the walls, ceiling, and floor. _What is going on?_

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Naruto/Kyuubi panted for breath. That had taken a lot of chakra, and Naruto's body was not used to channeling anywhere near that much. They could both feel the demonic chakra tearing their body apart, and knew that they needed to stop soon, but then Inoishi had returned with a small army of leaf-ninjas, ready to stop the 'reincarnation of Kyuubi.'

Naruto/Kyuubi flung another small fireball at a group of leaf-nin, scattering them. Kunai fell on him like water in a rainstorm, bouncing harmlessly off the armor of chakra. Although using enough chakra to make the armor caused harm to their body, it prevented anything else from harming it, as far as they could tell. But by now, even the deterioration from the armor was wearing them down, and soon they would reach the point of no return, the point at which they must either drop the armor and cease using demonic chakra, or die.

Naruto/Kyuubi could not afford to drop their armor in this hailstorm of kunai, and even if they could, the sheer number of enemies would still compel them to keep it up. Blood poured from long gashes that the chakra tore in their skin, and every breath brought with it another spattering of blood.

The demon duo raged, flinging fireballs in every direction, but there were too many to aim at, and very few leaf-nin were even threatened by the attack.

Naruto/Kyuubi could feel their limit approaching, and the number of leaf-nin grew as others finished fights elsewhere in the village.

_**Kit, we need to get out of here. There is no way we are going to defeat so many and live.**_

_But once we stop using your chakra, these injuries will prevent us from running fast enough to get away from all of these ninja._

_**Then... shall we take as many as we can with us to Shinigami?**_

_Indeed._

_**Then, kit, I can handle that. It will be easier if I do this alone, since this will involve almost entirely my chakra. Why don't you go tell that woman what is going to happen.**_

_All right._

Naruto relinquished command of his body, one last time, disappearing into his mind.

Kyuubi faced the crowd of ninjas, and realized that he would die today. But then, so would almost all of these ninja who stood against him. For some reason, Kyuubi found that the idea of death was not repulsive to him. In fact, Kyuubi was almost looking forward to a time when he would not have to worry about so many things, when he could just relax into the nothingness of death. But first...

Kyuubi unleashed the full extent of his chakra, breaking any barriers that the body might have to this amount of chakra passing through it. Kyuubi would have about ten seconds to wreak his vengeance, and he intended to use every last moment of it.

A giant, nine-tailed fox appeared one final time in Konoha, towering above the tallest buildings.

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Naruto stepped down from the chair. Looking around, he saw Ino, who was watching the interior of his mind collapse. Naruto walked over to her.

"Ino."

The girl whirled around at the sound of her name. "Naruto! What is going on? Why is your mind falling apart?"

Suddenly they heard a loud sound, similar to a strong wind. Naruto mind begin to fall apart even more rapidly. Huge chunks of stone fell from the ceiling, and tumbled down from the walls. Chakra flowed like water from Kyuubi's cage, all going to the chair as it was used by Kyuubi in his final moments.

"I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, Ino. My mind is... dying. I am dying. Using Kyuubi's chakra hurts my body, and we cannot stop using it because of all the enemies out there. So Kyuubi is going to use as much chakra as he can, and try and take as many of them down with us as possible. I don't know what will happen to you when I die. I am almost certain that Kyuubi will follow me to Shinigami, but I have no idea what will happen to you."

Ino gasped. "You're dying?"

Naruto nodded, pulling off his mask. His blonde hair sprang back to its usual spiky form.

"Aren't you even a little bothered by the thought of dying?" Ino asked.

Naruto looked thoughtful. "I have waited for death since my first sensei died. I thought I had died then, but as it turned out, I just ended up here somehow. I found out about Kyuubi, and we worked together after that. But really, there isn't anything here for me. If I can't defend myself against other ninja, then I may as well die, and be at peace at last..."

Ino frowned. "Naruto, I was just getting used to living here in your head, and now you're telling me that you're going to die, in the same voice that someone would talk about the weather?! What do you expect me to do?!"

"I... don't know, but I thought that you deserved to know what was going on. I will be gone very soon, and so it is only polite to say goodbye, don't you think?" Naruto gave a half-hearted smile.

Ino suddenly burst into tears. "I just got to know you, but I don't want you to die, Naruto. Isn't there anything you can do? Can't you run away? Can't you hide?"

Naruto shook his head slowly, his face wearing a troubled expression. "We are too injured to escape without using Kyuubi's chakra, and using it would not get away fast enough to be able to stop using it and survive. That is why Kyuubi is out there fighting."

Ino flung her arms around Naruto's neck, and cried into his shoulder. Naruto, not knowing what else to do or say, put his arms around her, and held her tightly.

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Kyuubi stood tall in Konoha, rearing to his former height. He howled loudly, and released a shockwave of demonic chakra, flattening nearby buildings, and knocking ninja back several blocks. Kyuubi looked down on the town and belched fire on the small, pathetic ninja.

Flaming ninja screamed in pain and agony, writhing on the ground, or stumbling blindly around.

Kyuubi swept one paw along the ground, crushing several ninja into the wall of a house. The demon felt a presence behind him, and turned to see Shukaku, the giant sand badger, running to attack, his lust for blood apparently overpowering his good sense.

Kyuubi growled, and opened his jaws wide, shooting a huge jet of flame at the sand demon. Shukaku began to fall as his legs were turned into glass.

Kyuubi ignored the feeling of impending death, and the knowledge that his body was about to burn out. He concentrated his chakra, and then released his favorite technique, one that he had used long ago, when there was an even larger army of ninja around him.

All of the air within several hundred feet of the demon caught fire. Almost the entire army was caught within the massive inferno. Those inside did not even have the time to scream before being incinerated.

Then all of Konoha heard a sad, despairing howl, and the fire dissipated, revealing a single flaming body hanging in mid-air.

The flaming corpse of Uzamaki Naruto fell to the ground, where it continued to burn to ashes, and was blown away in the wind.

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Inoishi could not believe it. He had actually fought a demon and lived. It had turned out to be fortunate that Inoishi had been caught in mid-air by the demon's first attack. The shockwave had sent him flying away from the creature, and he had landed on a house's roof, crashed through that, and landed on a couch. He had been stunned just long enough that when he had returned to the fighting, he had only enough time to get out to the roof, see final technique, and watch the demon boy flame out of existence.

Then Inoishi remembered. His daughter had been trapped in the demon's mind, so now that the demon was gone, she should have returned to her own body. That was what happened with that particular technique, although few who used the technique knew that, since it was extremely rare to become trapped in someone's mind. Inoishi had only read on one instance of when that had occurred.

Inoishi raced to the hospital.

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Ino felt sore all over. _What happened? I was in Naruto's mind, then he sort of faded away, everything caught on fire, and the cage had glowed with a blinding light. Now I feel sore, and heavy._ Ino opened her eyes, and looked around herself. She was in a hospital room.

The door burst open, and Inoishi ran into the room. Seeing his daughter awake, he hugged her tightly. "Don't worry Ino. Everything will be alright. The demon is dead. He's gone. He can't hurt you ever again."

Ino began to cry, but not for the reason her father imagined.

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Kyuubi felt a strange, floating sensation as he left the body. For all of his life, he had feared death above all other things, but now that the day had arrived, he felt... at peace. _**Goodbye, kit.**_

Kyuubi heard a weak reply. _Goodbye... Kyuubi..._

Then everything was dark.

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End of story. Yeah, some of that was a little awkward, but trying to make everyone happy when some people want contradicting things is hard. I tried. Maybe some of this chapter was not especially well-written, but it was hard to write, so, yeah... I had planned on it being longer, but when I got to writing it, I suddenly found myself writing these author's notes.


	25. Repossession

AN: This is not a chapter. Sorry if you were deceived, or if you are tired of receiving updates on a story that is finished. Sort of.

I have posted the first chapter of Repossession, the sequel to Possession here. I hope you guys like it.

-demonicnargles


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